I think once we get an idea of how much money the Cafe will be making us we can start making some medium term plans. Long term plan is to create a haven for our fellow graduate Lycoris as far as I have gathered, but what do people plan to focus on in the shorter terms?
Personally, I want to make sure the shop is stable enough that it doesn't implode on itself. Partly because Yuuki and Mitsu live here, but also because I want the freedom to start looking into personal and exploratory actions we haven't had a chance to try. Getting the shop up an running has been on a timer given limited funds and once the shop starts pulling weight we can start looking into all the things going on in and around Kagoshima.
[X] Plan: Preparing Till the Last Minute
-[X] [Lycoris Graduate] Call a Lycoris:
--[X] Nakaiji Momiji
-[X] [Kagoshima Fragrance] Hire Employee: Send a message and finalize the paperwork for hiring a new cafe employee!
--[X] The unemployed, Morales Hinata
-[X] [Kagoshima Fragrance] Advertise Word
-[X] [Kagoshima Fragrance] Grand Opening:
--[X] Red Spider Lily:
---[X] Excellent: 1 (Value: 2,000eb)
I think once we get an idea of how much money the Cafe will be making us we can start making some medium term plans. Long term plan is to create a haven for our fellow graduate Lycoris as far as I have gathered, but what do people plan to focus on in the shorter terms?
Making sure that Kagoshima Fragrance flourishes, see what our new home city has to offer, and just enjoy the mundane life of a former government assassin.
[X] Plan: Preparing Till the Last Minute
-[X] [Lycoris Graduate] Call a Lycoris:
--[X] Nakaiji Momiji
-[X] [Kagoshima Fragrance] Hire Employee: Send a message and finalize the paperwork for hiring a new cafe employee!
--[X] The unemployed, Morales Hinata
-[X] [Kagoshima Fragrance] Advertise Word
-[X] [Kagoshima Fragrance] Grand Opening:
--[X] Red Spider Lily:
---[X] Excellent: 1 (Value: 2,000eb)
Scheduled vote count started by Celeshiro on Jan 29, 2024 at 11:53 PM, finished with 17 posts and 6 votes.
[X] Plan: Preparing Till the Last Minute -[X] [Lycoris Graduate] Call a Lycoris: --[X] Nakaiji Momiji
-[X] [Kagoshima Fragrance] Hire Employee: Send a message and finalize the paperwork for hiring a new cafe employee!
--[X] The unemployed, Morales Hinata -[X] [Kagoshima Fragrance] Advertise Word -[X] [Kagoshima Fragrance] Grand Opening: --[X] Red Spider Lily: ---[X] Excellent: 1 (Value: 2,000eb)
[X] Plan: The Big Day -[X] [Lycoris Graduate] Call a Lycoris: --[X] Nakaiji Momiji -[X] [Kagoshima Fragrance] Advertise Word -[X] [Kagoshima Fragrance] Grand Opening: --[X] Red Spider Lily: ---[X] Excellent: 1 (Value: 2,000eb) -[X] [Living Life] The Way:
Hm, so it looks like there's something interesting happening with a certain somebody. Tossing a die here to see what's happened to them, as I'm sure you all are interested as well.
1: The Rejection
2: Back to Roots
3: In Search of Inspiration
4: New Bindings
[X] Plan: Preparing Till the Last Minute
-[X] [Lycoris Graduate] Call a Lycoris:
--[X] Nakaiji Momiji
-[X] [Kagoshima Fragrance] Hire Employee: Send a message and finalize the paperwork for hiring a new cafe employee!
--[X] The unemployed, Morales Hinata
-[X] [Kagoshima Fragrance] Advertise Word
-[X] [Kagoshima Fragrance] Grand Opening:
--[X] Red Spider Lily:
---[X] Excellent: 1 (Value: 2,000eb)
(Call a Lycoris (Nakaiji Momiji): 6)
The call went to voicemail again and you hung your head with a haggard sigh and frustrated expression. Once again, you had tried to contact your fellow graduate Lycoris to try and invite her to finally complete the assembled group of Lycoris here in Kagoshima, at least for the opening of your cafe, but it seemed like that really wasn't happening. Momiji simply wasn't picking up any of your calls or responding to any other forms of communication.
It was as if she had fallen off the face of the Earth, and that worried you to no end.
There was a quiet hiss when your newest employee deftly worked a coffee machine, his hands nimbly twisting dials to let off excess steam before attempting a practice cup, one that was near-perfect. Yet even then, he had enough focus to spare on talking to you. "You don't look so hot, boss. Do you need a moment?"
Before you could immediately deny it, the other outsider to the circle spoke up, concern in her voice. "You look like you've just received bad news," Erika mentioned from where she was watching his expertise in action. "I don't think customers want to see that look on what should be your happiest day."
"It's…" You hesitated for a moment before shaking your head. "Fine. Fine, I need a moment to refresh myself upstairs. I won't be long though, not when we're supposed to be opening our doors for the first time in just a few minutes!"
"We'll be looking forward to it!" Erika excitedly called out, only to pointedly elbow Hinata who simply shrugged. She gave him a fierce glare that he rolled his eyes at in a carefree manner. The two definitely had different attitudes when it came to work, with matching differing specialties and expertise that didn't necessarily mix well. But that was why you decided to bring Hinata onboard in the end. You wanted him to be the ideal face of the public front to Kaori, with his perfect mix of customer service and cooking skills. Erika was more suited to the little side business you were running on the side in comparison.
Ideally, once everything got rolling, the two of them would neatly fit into your plans and become the specialists in their respective fields you needed.
Speaking of specialists, the Netrunner specialist Arisu was sitting at the common kitchen table, frowning at something. Her fingers twitched as if she was interacting with a mouse and keyboard, the telltale bright glow of her eyes meaning that she was engrossed in looking at something through her opticware. You settled for stepping past her to grab a cold drink to hopefully clear your mind and she finally noticed you when the fridge door slammed shut. "Yuuki."
You paused mid-sip, eyes narrowing at the serious tone in her voice. "Yes?'
She pointedly looked around first. "Where's Mitsu?"
"She's going about with some samples around the streets to try and grab attention for the cafe just right before we open. Why?"
"Good, because I think she wouldn't take this development well." Arisu turned her gaze onto the television screen in the living area and it turned on, displaying what seemed to be a media website. "This is the audition page for New Stars, a television show that is all about young aspiring actors to try and apply for one of those talent reality shows."
"Huh?" You blinked. "That sort of daytime filler stuff?"
"Say what you want, but it's where a lot of fresh-faced young impressionable adults try to start their media careers." She sucked in a deep breath and turned to you with a dark expression. "You can understand where I'm going with this."
You were silent for a moment, trying to piece things together with a heavy frown. "So...it's likely that Momiji applied to this? And I'm guessing she didn't make it?" You guessed while chewing your lips in thought. "That's disappointing, but she's still very unknown. Hell, we all are, being basically adults with almost zero recorded history. It doesn't mean she should give up though."
"It's a bit more than that." Her eyes flashed and the website shifted about to a new page. "This one, an audition for Muddy Gold. Another easy start filler, another flat rejection."
"How do you know about the rejections anyway?" You questioned, peering at the screen as if there was a section for it. "Wouldn't that be private?"
"Yes, but it's running on a universal application system that had so little security, it was basically flashing me in. I was given a tip-off on this by a fellow Netrunner choom who knew I was looking for this." The Netrunner coughed and changed websites again, and again. By now, she was going through several dozen corporate media websites advertising slots for new hopeful medias to try and make it big, and you had to take a step back to behold the scale of it.
By the end of it, assuming that the information was good, Momiji had seemingly applied to every single new show being shot this year.
And all of them had turned them down.
You finally found your baffled voice. "What the hell?" You mumbled. "This isn't right. No way that they all happened to find a better actor than her, all at once no less."
"I'm pretty sure they turned her down even when they had open slots," Arisu growled and curled her fingers up into a fist. "Something fishy is happening here, and I don't like it. It feels like she's been blacklisted from the industry."
You hissed and drummed your flesh fingers against your artificial arm. "Can we find out who or why?"
"As much as I'd love to, this is going to get real expensive and real complicated quickly, more so than what I can just do by myself even if I got the funding." She slumped in her seat and laid her head down against the table. "This is going to be a hell of a project that needs the right touch as well, because if you piss off the wrong media group, they're going to hire hits on you."
You hummed, wondering if it was worth the effort. Not to mention that perhaps it was a way for you to get an in with the media corpos once you started meddling with them. That certainly sounded like a Fixer thing to do, to figure out a way to leverage a way into the entertainment circles of Japan.
Especially given that you were more than a little interested in their ad agencies for your personal businesses, with how mostly disastrous your personal attempts were. The question was if you were interested right now, especially with your fellow Lycoris' dreams perhaps on the line. Or perhaps you could put this on the backburner until an opportunity emerged, like a media personality suddenly coming to you for services.
Mentally, you reviewed your choices over again and made a decision.
[ ] [Media] Get involved, set it up as your first goal as a Fixer. Find out what happened with Momiji, what you could do, and how you could leverage it to your advantage.
[ ] [Media] Put a pin on it and keep an eye out for the opportunities. You'll unravel the mystery in time, you just need time to build up and cultivate connections first. You can only hope Momiji will hang on until then.
[ ] [Media] That's a pit of snakes and devils dressed in colorful suits that dance on screen. You're not getting involved in whatever scandal and blackmail they spring on each other on the regular! You'll extend a hand of aid Momiji if the opportunity arises, but best to accept the loss and move on.
- Yeah, when Momiji rolled a regular failure, then major failure, something's up. Tossed a die, and it really isn't looking good. But where this is tragedy, there can be opportunity.
- Fixers definitely can have media contacts to help spin stories or leverage scandals as need be. Again, think about a Fixer as being the person you go for everything you need done beneath the table, having dirt on a media personality/having them owe a job to you is definitely in the job title. Gods, that really does make Yuuki sound like a pimp, and it really isn't helping when you consider her current agents...
Four hour moratorium to consider blackmailing media icons
[ ] [Media] Get involved, set it up as your first goal as a Fixer. Find out what happened with Momiji, what you could do, and how you could leverage it to your advantage.
Now way I am voting anything else. Helping a friend and making it our first big thing as a Fixer? How can I say no?
[ ] [Media] Get involved, set it up as your first goal as a Fixer. Find out what happened with Momiji, what you could do, and how you could leverage it to your advantage.
[ ] [Media] Get involved, set it up as your first goal as a Fixer. Find out what happened with Momiji, what you could do, and how you could leverage it to your advantage.
the question is why, really.
so many questions, that will undoubtedly lead to more questions.
[X] [Media] Get involved, set it up as your first goal as a Fixer. Find out what happened with Momiji, what you could do, and how you could leverage it to your advantage.
[X] [Media] Get involved, set it up as your first goal as a Fixer. Find out what happened with Momiji, what you could do, and how you could leverage it to your advantage.
Funny how the QM set up for us to either go at it alone, or accompany one of the other girls, and instead we're clawing all the girls back to us.
[X] [Media] Get involved, set it up as your first goal as a Fixer. Find out what happened with Momiji, what you could do, and how you could leverage it to your advantage.
I concur, even if we didn't have our own troubles putting ourself on the map, we can't not help a friend when we get wind of it. Who knows, maybe we can play that whole young hero angle Pauper started for us into this. Although, I doubt Lycoris really wants its agents to draw the puplic's attention to their mysterious past immediately after graduation by becoming celebrities. That might actually be the worst case scenario here. Here's hoping it's a more benign conspiracy.
Look, it could be worse, we could have build that secret space in the basement for customers to take their favourite staff and "discuss private business."
When the MC goes their own way so hard they defy a major vote for the Quest's setup. It pretty much started immediately when we talked Mitu into tagging along as well.
But yeah, while Arisu and Momoji are still up in the air long term, we can at the very least let them know they have a place to call home, if they want to. I suppose setting ourself up as a Fixer for them is one way to put a spin on "All for one and one for all."
I think once we get an idea of how much money the Cafe will be making us we can start making some medium term plans. Long term plan is to create a haven for our fellow graduate Lycoris as far as I have gathered, but what do people plan to focus on in the shorter terms?
Well, chances are our short term plans are about to get shaken up, but setting that aside:
Increasing some of our more lackluster skills can't hurt, both when it comes to Kagoshima Fragrance (Granted with Hinata on board we should have somebody to handle most of it for us, but it can't hurt to have a certain degree of self sufficiency) and the Fixer gig (in which we might get stress tested soon). Bonus points for the actual improvement process being passive, so once we get a decent roll for availability (please, RNG) we won't have to actively worry about it for a while, which leaves more time for relaxing side activities.
(At this point, I'd compare it to the flower growing, but honestly even a base bouquet seems to have enough value that we might as well have some of them grow passively. Still, at minimum an action for buying seeds and another for planting them takes more effort than just going to the library once.)
As for a more concrete goal to work towards, the idea Yuuki had of brokering some kind of peace between the Secondborn Ronin and the Vendetta sounds like a good one. While we aren't exactly close allies, we're on goodish enough terms with both of them that having to step around each other's toes can only impact us negatively. Can you imagine what a pain it would be, if Erika has trouble showing up to work because of a gang war? That might be dipping more into medium term planning though, especially with having another project to work on first.
[X] [Media] Get involved, set it up as your first goal as a Fixer. Find out what happened with Momiji, what you could do, and how you could leverage it to your advantage.
[X] [Media] Get involved, set it up as your first goal as a Fixer. Find out what happened with Momiji, what you could do, and how you could leverage it to your advantage.
If we can help Momji, we could cement our reputation as a Fixer and help us to get a little leg up in the game, while the coffee flower shop bring passive revenue on the side.
[X] [Media] Get involved, set it up as your first goal as a Fixer. Find out what happened with Momiji, what you could do, and how you could leverage it to your advantage.
"It's…" You hesitated for a moment before shaking your head. "Fine. Fine, I need a moment to refresh myself upstairs. I won't be long though, not when we're supposed to be opening our doors for the first time in just a few minutes!"
"In latest news, a street samurai dressed as a maid terrorizes a local gang populations, while reciting advertisement haikus about a just opening flower café. Simply a latest fad, or something more?"
"It's a bit more than that." Her eyes flashed and the website shifted about to a new page. "This one, an audition for Muddy Gold. Another easy start filler, another flat rejection."
"How do you know about the rejections anyway?" You questioned, peering at the screen as if there was a section for it. "Wouldn't that be private?"
"Yes, but it's running on a universal application system that had so little security, it was basically flashing me in. I was given a tip-off on this by a fellow Netrunner choom who knew I was looking for this." The Netrunner coughed and changed websites again, and again. By now, she was going through several dozen corporate media websites advertising slots for new hopeful medias to try and make it big, and you had to take a step back to behold the scale of it.
By the end of it, assuming that the information was good, Momiji had seemingly applied to every single new show being shot this year.
"This is going to be a hell of a project that needs the right touch as well, because if you piss off the wrong media group, they're going to hire hits on you."
[X] [Media] Get involved, set it up as your first goal as a Fixer. Find out what happened with Momiji, what you could do, and how you could leverage it to your advantage.
We're honestly too inexperienced and new to our sidejob to go after big fish like a large entertainment conspiracy, but dammit, we can't leave a sister hanging!
Now that I'm thinking about this, I wonder if it couldn't be the Lycoris org. that twisted those rejections to prevent its ex-member to become too public...
To avoid having peoples snooping around the holes in the new idol's history.
Now that I'm thinking about this, I wonder if it couldn't be the Lycoris org. that twisted those rejections to prevent its ex-member to become too public...
To avoid having peoples snooping around the holes in the new idol's history.
An interesting theory, but at the same time, having an unknown past to work with is also a media boon. Means you can make up whatever background you want to draw interest. It's also not stamdard Lycoris MO, especially for an ex-agent who could be easily contacted first with warnings for this very public action.
Scheduled vote count started by Celeshiro on Jan 31, 2024 at 11:44 PM, finished with 9 posts and 7 votes.
[X] [Media] Get involved, set it up as your first goal as a Fixer. Find out what happened with Momiji, what you could do, and how you could leverage it to your advantage.
Right, it's time for your grand opening! Thanks to using your Excellent Lycoris bouquet, you're going to get three rolls to see how large of a splash you make, the first impression outside the flowers and coffee. You probably want to make it big on first impressions, so you'll commit all rerolls to this. I'll toss them here, and the highest roll is the one that you will be taking. Let's see...
