Like Diego Sanchez or Daniel Bryan Danielson, it's yes yes yes
***
This one takes a while for you to work through. You've never had someone say you smell like fresh baked bread or cocaine, and you're not sure if that's a come-on, a compliment, or a statement of fact. It could be all three, for all you know.
Now there's nothing wrong with girls sniffing girls (you personally appreciate the parchment and autumn leaves smell of Chiaki), so you want to pay the possible compliment the proper respect.
"If the blood thing was a compliment, I'll take it," you say, your hair giving Lily a thumbs-up for emphasis.
Lily smiles with little fangs again. "Just stating facts. But yeah, it's a compliment. You seem like a real cinnamon bun." She rocks on her heels, half nervous, half eager. "So what about the deal?"
You pause as the inner yous hijack your higher brain patterns.
<Sensible> "We should consult Chiaki on this one; we don't know the mechanics of this world or what would happen if we fundamentally alter our way of going home."
<Brainy> "You would turn down the chance to warp fate itself and observe the results? Have you turned into a coward as well as a drunk?"
<Artsy> "Don't be so gauche, Brainy. Chiaki's our collaborator, handler, and muse. A decision made without any of those things is très peu esthétique~"
<Flashy> "Dahling, don't start using French because Lily did. An artist should be avant-garde, not a trendhopper."
<Artsy> "Hehe, got you doing it now too. That makes me the avant-garde among us~
<Sensible> "Can we please focus on the possibly life-defining question ahead of us? If we take the deal and things go bad, we'll never see our family again. We'll never have ramen with Gabby and Sayoko, or finish college like Chiaki wanted us to. We'll never sleep in our own bed, in our own body."
<Flashy> "Who needs that humdrum life? We have wealth, we have beauty, we have our youth, and we have Chiaki right here, dahling. What more could we ask for?"
<Sensible> "Not dying to some seething rich kid or turning into a vampire, for one."
<Artsy> "We'd leave a beautiful corpse, probably."
<Sensible> "That's not reassuring. We're the guiding forces in our head, not a Van Gogh painting!"
<Ghost!Emo> "We got turned into a Pollock on pavement, fufu..."
Sensible beans Emo with a beer can; impressive given Emo's current incorporeality.
<Sensible> "Sporty, please back me up here. You trust Chiaki, right?"
<Sporty> "Heck yeah I do, she's like our life coach."
<Sensible> "So you'd agree we should consult her on stuff like this, right?"
<Sporty> "Normally yeah, but I got a good feeling about saying yes."
<Sensible> "Bwuh?"
<Sporty> "Look. When we get an opportunity to help somebody out, we gotta take it; full effort and full throttle."
<Flashy> "And with our already prodigious taste-making powers, we'll be able to turn Lily from doormat to debutant!"
<Artsy> "More French~"
<Brainy> "We could study Lily's biology, see how a vampiric humanoid functions...my brain trembles with experiment ideas!"
<Sensible> "Word choice, Brainy."
<Brainy> "You always nitpick when you're losing consensus, I spoke no vulgarity."
Sensible pulls out another beer can from Grace's mindscape, rests her forehead on it. She closes her eyes and breathes deeply.
<Sensible> "...You're right. I'm sorry. Majority goes to saying yes, so let's say yes."
You're drawn from the mental drama by Lily waving her face in front of you.
"Are you okay?" she asks. "You're drooling, and you have this glazed look in your eye."
"Huh? Oh, sorry. Spaced out." You wipe the drool from your mouth. "I'm cool with your deal."
Lily throws her hands up, eyes sparkling like a Stephanie Meyer wet dream. "Yayifications!"
You throw your hands up, caught up in her energy. "Yeah, that!"
After a happy dance that makes her look like Sadako off a bean, Lily calms down. She tosses her hair from her face and tries to look cool. "This could be the start of a beautiful relationship."
***
Eventually, Chiaki finds you and the rest of your entourage. You end your first birthday with them and enough sweets to give an elephant diabetes. Tanya chides the decadence with playful derision, unable to hide the joy of good company on her normally-dour face. Camille talks a mile a minute about the fun he had and the fun he wants to keep having, smoothly but unsubtly implying he wants to have it with you. Lily, clearly not used to being around so many people, eats pastries like a pet hamster, alternating between frightened and ecstatic. Lucci sketches the scene between bites of sweet and spicy Pixie Poppers, promising to give you his finished results as a birthday present.
So caught up in merriment are you, you miss the blinking cascade of unhandled exception errors in your brain-HUD.
***
[It is week four in the sixth month of Anno Sophia 92. You are thirteen years old.]
***
[Weekly Activity: What do you plan to do this week?]
[ ] Study (Brainy++, Sporty-)
[ ] Paint (Artsy++, Sensible-)
[ ] Exercise (Sporty++, Flashy-)
[ ] Play Dress-up (Flashy++, Brainy-)
[ ] Socialize (Sensible++, Artsy-)
AVATAR GRADES
Brainy: Average (+3)
Artsy: Average (+3)
Flashy: Good (+4)
Sporty: Good (+4)
Sensible: Good (+4)
ACTUALIZATION SCORES
BRN 48 ART 48 FLA 66 SPO 96 SEN 55
STRESS 38
DESTRUDO LEVEL
Normal
LORES
<Heavenly Magic Lore L1>: Can learn and cast Heavenly Magic, spells that call upon the power of Sophia, the Sevenfold Goddess of this world.
<Bloodpact Lore L1>: Can learn and cast Bloodpacts, Heavenly Magic in its most primal form.
SKILLS
<Minor Bloodpact>: Can make minor oaths and pacts, backed up by blood and the power of Sophia Madim, the Forgemother.
<Blood Sisters> (Bridgette Alteisen): Gain minor stat boosts when you or Bridgette act to protect or assist each other.
<Teflon Cherub>: When dodging accusations and foul rumors, or convincing people of your moral character, you may roll twice on a Flashy or Sensible check and keep the higher result. People generally trust and like you more unless they already hate you, you're actively harming them, or you're pissing them off.
PRE-CAPTURE ROUTES
Camille Asuka
Lily Valentine
Prince Bryn Alteisen