The Perfectly Normal High School: A Slice of Life Quest! (Defunct)

Gnarker · Feb 22, 2018

LuciDreamer said:
Or the Foundation could be wrong. ^^

Wrong enough that it's not actually a harmful SCP effect, and not simply their own paranoid reaction to the movie? 'Cause that was my impression.

[X] This seems like a horrible idea.
[x] [BS] Gently inform Silas that Big Sister needs to focus more of her time trying to learn more about the Student Council, in case they might have anything that might harm him.
[X] [BS2] No. No need to add to Silas's psychological stresses.

[X] [SOCIAL] CHAR: Talk with someone: Shinohara
-[X] Watch Life of Pi

[x] [SOCIAL] INT: Observe someone: REIZEI RENJI

[X] [-] "I'm worried about this person... their name is "Maeda Kirino." Can you... erm... analyze them for me? What is she afraid of? Can I... um... help her?

Karnewarrior · Feb 22, 2018

Gnarker said:
[X] [SOCIAL] CHAR: Talk with someone: Shinohara
-[X] Watch Life of Pi

"You be the tiger, and I'll be the little boy.~"

"...This kind of misunderstanding is the worst kind of junk food. The emotional equivalent of Lunchables."

I think we need to focus on the metaphor, more than the movie.

LuciDreamer · Feb 22, 2018

Its a good thing I managed to finish this update when I did...

Sorry, I was going to post Maeda's omake today, but I think I caught an ~~annoying strand of the flu that makes me just sick enough to make any semblence of creative thinking impossible.~~ a demonic, horrible horrible horrible death plague that masks itself as a small cold until you end up waking up the next day with chills, a fever, and a roaring headache. (Case in point: I started writing this post yesterday. And it is now evening.)

It's hard to think when whenever you have an idea it comes flying out of your nostrils or ejaculated through the throat as airborne water particulates.

Also, WAUGH I FORGOT TO THREADMARK, SORRY

Also also, I forgot to make a few changes to the Character Sheet. They have been fixed! Probably. I'm planning on making the Character Sheet nicer as per @Spectrum's suggestion, but it will probably take me some time to learn the BBCode.

Nevill · Feb 23, 2018

At this point I am just wondering if there is any personality behind Shinohara's character besides her food choices. Our conversations so far revolved around them for obvious reasons, and the Guilty trait is the fallout we need to deal with, but I'd like both parties recognizing it as a quirk like most people around us have, and moving on from that topic to more interesting ones.

You know, like why is she with the Drama club, why is she in Yamaha specifically, is she even aware of anything strange going on in this school, and how can she stand that cheese-hater Allen.

Sitxar · Feb 23, 2018

[X] This seems like a horrible idea.
[x] [BS] Gently inform Silas that Big Sister needs to focus more of her time trying to learn more about the Student Council, in case they might have anything that might harm him.
[X] [BS2] No. No need to add to Silas's psychological stresses.
[X] [SOCIAL] CHAR: Talk with someone: Shinohara
-[X] Being a carnivore doesn't make a tiger evil. Wasn't there some movie about a kid befriending one?
[X] [FREE] Give someone something nice: (Who?)
-[X] Bread to the Drama Club
[X] [-]"I'm worried about this person... their name is "Maeda Kirino." Can you... erm... analyze them for me? What is she afraid of? Can I... um... help her?

LuciDreamer said:
Правду Великая Федерация (Pravdu Velikaya Federatsiya) - The Grand Federation of Pravdu

Is the wrong word order intended? The name of the country should be Великая Федерация Правду (assuming Pravdu are an ethnic group and we are operating on the rules of Russian language).

LuciDreamer said:
She already knew that path she was taking, so following was pretty easy, even when he had to practically hold his breath when he entered the crowded streets - he still hated walking through that place.

He

Spector29 · Feb 23, 2018

Nevill said:
At this point I am just wondering if there is any personality behind Shinohara's character besides her food choices. Our conversations so far revolved around them for obvious reasons, and the Guilty trait is the fallout we need to deal with, but I'd like both parties recognizing it as a quirk like most people around us have, and moving on from that topic to more interesting ones.

You know, like why is she with the Drama club, why is she in Yamaha specifically, is she even aware of anything strange going on in this school, and how can she stand that cheese-hater Allen.

To be fair, this quirk is one of the more blatant.

I'm willing to concede hanging out with Shinohara as long as we agree Hanamura is an asshole.

Spectrum · Feb 23, 2018

LuciDreamer said:
Also also, I forgot to make a few changes to the Character Sheet. They have been fixed! Probably. I'm planning on making the Character Sheet nicer as per Spectrum's suggestion, but it will probably take me some time to learn the BBCode.

ish fairly simple, depending on just how fancy you want to get.

Real quick, one version...

Main Characters:

Silas Yamigawa Big Sister

SILAS YAMIGAWA
A perfectly normal high-schooler definitely without a mysterious past or any other particular qualities of note. Gets solid B's in class.
Inventory Current Job Hobbies Relationships Personality
- Silas's Possessions:
  - Miiku-brand desktop gaming computer, 32GB RAM.
  - Miiku-brand MiiPad. It's networking chip was irreparably damaged years ago.
  - Bread (x4) (Effect: Gift Item. +REL)
- Current Job:
  Subforum Moderator - Apparently people get paid for this. Scrolling through forum posts and infracting people who have broken site rules, all the while fielding complaints of moderator abuse and rules-lawyering are all parts of being a subforum moderator, oh joy. (Requires COUR and CHAR)
  
  Boss Relationship: Okay
  Subforum Toxicity: Tense (Heating Up)
- Hobbies:
  Big Sister Programming - Silas is currently trying to learn how to reprogram Big Sister's operational code. It's... a slow-going process.
  (Current Progress: 50/10000)
  
  MMORPGs - Silas is an avid player of Tale of Merika, a revolutionary (hah!) Amberrish-based sandbox adventure fantasy MMO. Whenever Silas is at home, he spends some time chipping away at the game, indulging in its spectacular world. The more time Silas spends at home, the more chances he has to develop this hobby.
  - Current Effect: Level Grinding (-20 ST to actions Silas takes at home.
- Relationships:
  Big Sister: 96 (Nearly Dependent)
  Omnipresent and seemingly omnipotent, Big Sister seems to always be there whenever there is a TV or electronic device in the vicinity, watching Silas's every action. She's almost entirely benevolent, however, and her advice and the tiny ways she makes Silas's life easier has made Silas appreciate Big Sister a lot. Remember, Big Sister is watching…
  Matsuoka Yumika: 23 (Friends)
  Matsuoka and Silas are pretty amicable.
  Shinohara Hana: 12 (Close Acquaintance)
  Shinohara and Silas can hold a decent conversation with each other.
  Reizei Renji: 11 (Close Acquaintance)
  Reizei and Silas can hold a decent conversation with each other.
  Rakuyama Riku: 9 (Acquainted)
  Rakuyama acknowledges that Silas exists.
  Kuroda Harima: 8 (Cordial)
  Kuroda would be willing to give Silas a small fief and maybe a few denars, but no more beyond that.
  Mikado Yoshi: 7 (Acquainted)
  Mikado acknowledges that Silas exists.
  Hanamura Chihiro: 8 (Acquainted)
  Hanamura acknowledges that Silas exists. Seems to want to be Friends.
  Maeda Kirino: 5 (Acquainted)
  Maeda acknowledges that Silas exists.
  DreamerLuci: 4 (Acquainted)
  DreamerLuci acknowledges that Silas exists.
  Kamasaki-sensei: 3 (Acquainted)
  Kamasaki-sensei acknowledges that Silas exists.
  Officer Furai: 1 (Acquainted)
  Officer Furai acknowledges that Silas exists.
  Dorima Shiru: -8 (Dismissive)
  Dorima seems to be really pissed off as Silas for some reason.
  Allen Furai: -6 (Dismissive)
  Allen doesn't see Silas as worth his time.
- Personality:
  Student Otaku - Silas is slowly emerging from his NEET stupor, and he is more open to social situations... but only to people he already has a bond with, out of a fear of exposing his otaku-ness to others. Silas is incredibly appreciative of the people he has already met, but is slow to connect to new people now that the initial rush to find friends has passed. (Sociability set to Warm. +15 Success threshold to social interactions with all students whose REL >= 7 OR students who are fellow club members, -5 Success Threshold otherwise.)
  
  Traits:
  Drama Club Newbie - Silas is a member of the Drama Club! When he spends time with his club, he'll be learning the various nuances of communication and expression, and he'll find it a lot easier to interact with club members. (+0.5 CHAR, +0.25 CRE, +0.25 COUR per week. +5 ST with all Drama club members. Lost if Silas leaves Drama Club.)
  Sensitive - Silas is highly attuned to the emotions of the people around him, and is good at detecting when the people he talks to are feeling uncomfortable. This makes him a better communicator, but also means he's a bit oblivious to the things that people want to hide. (+2 CHAR, +10 ST when TALKING, +15 ST when ATONING, -15 ST when OBSERVING. Silas detects liked Stats faster.)
  Loner - Several years almost completely isolated from normal social interaction have made Silas's intrapersonal interactions a bit… difficult. (- 20 ST for non-INT based Social Interactions, +10 to ST when OBSERVING)
  Entomophobia - Silas has an intrinsic fear of bugs. No, not the computerized kind; the fuzzy kind that has mandibles and little legs and antennae and oh god get that fucking thing away from - err... anyway... the sight of bugs now has the ability to send Silas into paraplegic shock. (No Effect)
  
  Sociability:
  (This stat increases and decreases depending on the distribution of the stats above. It affects how likely social interactions are to succeed.)
  
  Kuudere - Frosty - Chilly - Cool - Neutral - Warm - Friendly - Outgoing - Genki
  
  Warm - Base Success threshold for social interaction is set at 55
  - Silas may choose to politely ignore people who try to talk to him. This incurs negligible REL penalties.
Placeholder

Nevill · Feb 28, 2018

Well, we have our leaders.

[X] This seems like a horrible idea.
Number of voters: 12 (9+2+1)
boonerunner, veekie, wingstrike96, Nevill, Spectrum, Thozmp, Noumero, Gnarker, Sitxar
- [X] Something to be done in a real urgent and present life or death situation when running low on options, but not when there is no clear and present threat right in the face. Time can be taken to work through the code, and to do it right without harming Big Sister.
Number of voters: 2
Random Tale, Sentient Tree
[X] Don't ask Big Sister to break her laws if she thinks she'll be a genie about it.
Number of voters: 1
Karnewarrior

[x] [BS] Gently inform Silas that Big Sister needs to focus more of her time trying to learn more about the Student Council, in case they might have anything that might harm him.
Number of voters: 6
Nevill, Noumero, Random Tale, Sentient Tree, Gnarker, Sitxar

[X] [BS] No; Big Sister's obligations are too great. This Foundation may be a threat to Silas, but so is everything else Big Sister keeps a pulse on.
Number of voters: 4
veekie, wingstrike96, Spectrum, Thozmp

[X] [BS] Increase efforts, and divert RAM from other, less important activities, such as ensuring that the Manipinoian Monetary Fund doesn't go belly-up for the thirtieth time. It's not like they aren't overdue for an economic meltdown... Besides, Silas's welfare is important.
Number of voters: 2
boonerunner, Karnewarrior

[X] [BS2] No. No need to add to Silas's psychological stresses.
Number of voters: 7
veekie, wingstrike96, Spectrum, Sentient Tree, Karnewarrior, Gnarker, Sitxar

[X] [BS2] Yes. A properly paranoid Silas is a safe Silas.
Number of voters: 4
boonerunner, Nevill, Noumero, Random Tale

[X] [SOCIAL] CHAR: Talk with someone: Shinohara
Number of voters: 8 (3+4+1)
boonerunner, Spectrum, Sitxar
-[X] Being a carnivore doesn't make a tiger evil. Wasn't there some movie about a kid befriending one?
Number of voters: 4
Karnewarrior, Noumero, Random Tale, Sentient Tree
-[X] Watch Life of Pi
Number of voters: 1
Gnarker

[x] [SOCIAL] INT: Observe someone: REIZEI RENJI
Number of voters: 5
Nevill, Noumero, Spectrum, Random Tale, Gnarker

[X] [SOCIAL] INT: Observe someone: MAEDA KIRINO
Number of voters: 4
boonerunner, veekie, wingstrike96, Nevill

[X] [SOCIAL] CHAR: Talk with someone: REIZEI RENJI
Number of voters: 3
veekie, wingstrike96, Sentient Tree

[x] [CLUB] Work (Influence club actions, ???)
Number of voters: 5
Nevill, Noumero, Spectrum, Random Tale, Sentient Tree

[X] [CLUB] Help out the officers. (Influence the actions of Yumika and Reizei, REL increase, ???)
Number of voters: 3
Karnewarrior, veekie, wingstrike96

[X] [CLUB] Hang out (Random REL Increase with club members)
Number of voters: 1
boonerunner

[X] [FREE] Give someone something nice: (Who?)
-[X] Bread to the Drama Club
Number of voters: 9
boonerunner, veekie, wingstrike96, Nevill, Noumero, Random Tale, Sentient Tree, Gnarker, Sitxar

[X] [FREE] Give someone something nice: Shinohara
-[X] Bread
Number of voters: 1
Karnewarrior

[x] Hello, Hanamura. We both can make life difficult for one another, as you yourself noted. Would you like to cooperate instead? State what you value, and we shall figure out our seams of common cause.
Number of voters: 3 (1+2)
Noumero
-[X] If you receive this message, just mention to Silas to, "Tell Velocity that their message was received." He may not know what it means, but we will.
--[X] Also, while alone, please say, "There is never enough dakka." If we pick it up, that means we have more options to communicate than through Silas.
---[X] Once we have an idea of how reliable our communication is, we can discuss things more frequently, and let us know if you need to be near Silas to speak with us.
Number of voters: 2
Random Tale, Sentient Tree

[X] "I'm worried about this person... their name is "Maeda Kirino." Can you... erm... analyze them for me? What is she afraid of? Can I... um... help her?
Number of voters: 6
Karnewarrior, Nevill, Noumero, Sentient Tree, Gnarker, Sitxar

[X] "Can you get me a cookie? I'm... starving..."
Number of voters: 4
veekie, Spectrum, Thozmp, Random Tale

[X] "Can you get someone named 'Matsuoka Yumika' to come here, so I can speak to them?"
Number of voters: 1
wingstrike96

[X] "Can you take an image of me and spam it on the school's IntraNet messaging service?"
Number of voters: 1
boonerunner

Spector29 said:
I'm willing to concede hanging out with Shinohara as long as we agree Hanamura is an asshole.

I am willing to concede Hanamura as an asshole as long as we don't chicken out of requesting the aid of the Computer Club to help us with our programming.

I just want to see who this Reina is.

Karnewarrior · Feb 28, 2018

[Q] HUG SHINOHARA
-[Q] TELL SHINOHARA SHE IS OUR WAIFU
-[Q] CRY A LOT
[Q] TELL HANAMURA TO FUCK OFF AND FIND HIS OWN WAIFU THIS ONE HAS BEEN CLAIMED BY THE HIVEMIND

Don't mind me just preparing for the 99 we're going to roll

Nevill · Feb 28, 2018

A 99 would have the participants swapped due to multidimensional shenanigans.

*shudders*

Karnewarrior · Feb 28, 2018

Nah, see, maximum regret happens if we waifu Shinohara and then get a scene of Nanami sobbing in a corner invisibly with her heart broken because we left her because we couldn't remember her.

99s are for maximum sads.

LuciDreamer · Feb 28, 2018

Sitxar said:
Is the wrong word order intended? The name of the country should be Великая Федерация Правду (assuming Pravdu are an ethnic group and we are operating on the rules of Russian language).

Ah! Thanks. Somehow I knew there going to be at least one linguistic mistake in there somewhere... I hope the rest of the names are correct-like?

Nevill said:
Well, we have our leaders.

Oh yeah, dice! Roooolling~

Always Late · Feb 28, 2018

SV dice: Fuck averages.

Spectrum · Feb 28, 2018

I'm perfectly okay with that distribution.

Nevill · Feb 28, 2018

Better than the other way around, surely.

I wonder, though... shouldn't there be 4 hacking attempts for Big Sis, or did we succeed on the 1st try? Or are the attempts spread out, or is the effect multiplied, or what?

The 50-sided die for '-' is worrying too. Are big numbers good or bad for that one?

Karnewarrior · Feb 28, 2018

We rolled a 1 on the Shinohara talk

Guess that means she waifus us.

Spectrum · Feb 28, 2018

something something find other emotions for Shinohara to feed on something something exiled to QQ something something

Karnewarrior · Mar 10, 2018

There was an attempt

Silas. Gave him blue hair due to the portrait in the OP. Gave him a concerned expression because he just rolled a 1 on talking to Shinohara and got a girlfriend he wasn't expecting or desiring but now she's there and probably feeding off his nervousness or something

LuciDreamer · Mar 12, 2018

Karnewarrior said:
There was an attempt

Silas. Gave him blue hair due to the portrait in the OP. Gave him a concerned expression because he just rolled a 1 on talking to Shinohara and got a girlfriend he wasn't expecting or desiring but now she's there and probably feeding off his nervousness or something

Hmm... I dunno! Personally, I'd imagine Silas's default expression being more like "What did I just walk in on?!" than "Oh god there's a spider on my back again isn't there." Silas is just in a constant state of shock and apology and jumpiness.

I wish I could draw chins.

In unrelated news, mini update tonight! I can't fit the whole update into a single post without accidentally drowning about half of you in text, so I'm going to separate the turn.

Again.

Thrice.

Uguuu... sorry... Too many plot threads to address... Not enough space... ^^

LuciDreamer · Mar 12, 2018

Hey guys! I'm not dead! That's my new intro, now. I hope you like it. :< (Sorry)

Sorry again! Last weekend I had to catch up with a lot of stuff I've been neglecting. Mostly mathematics stuff… I'm not doing particularly well in that area right now. Antiderivatives... *shudder*. And on top of that I had a speech competition to attend last Saturday, which basically put me in a state of constant moodiness for a week. *grumbles* apparently scoring an average of 93 out of 100 gets you last place in Extemporaneous Speech. I'm not bitter, though. Not at all. *grumbles*

Anyway, I've noticed that I have a really bad habit of making the votes unbearably complicated simply because all of the options I present.

So I'm going to try occasionally separating the "day" turn even more. Mostly, I'm doing this to resolve several votes that don't pertain to Silas directly, without immediately having to jump into the next set of votes (One of Silas's [SOCIAL] actions and his [CLUB] action need a vote next turn, and I don't want to turn this into a smorgasbord…). Basically, this means that this next turn is going to be very, very short, and light on voting options. I hope I made up for it! Truth be told, I have all of the [SOCIAL] actions written already, but…

I don't want to drop another 6k update without warning again. That would be criminal.

I've said it before, and I'll be saying it again countless times: I have a problem.

Article:

10:32 P.M
Ichiro: Hey, Jun.

Jun Takahashi: Yo.

Ichiro: I won't be coming to school tomorrow.

Jun Takahashi: What? Why?

Ichiro: I'm feeling a bit sick today.

Jun Takahashi: You seemed perfectly fine this afternoon.

Ichiro: You know better than anyone else that I'm good at obfuscation. Can't maintain my air of professionalism if the entire Council is worrisome over me having a cold.

Jun Takahashi: ...I see. Is it bad? What kind of cold do you think you might have? Is it an odd one?

Ichiro: No, not odd. Normal.

Ichiro: I just feel like absolute shit right now.

Jun Takahashi: Oh. You had me worried there. That's good.

Jun Takahashi: I mean, not good that you're sick… just good that it's not worse.

Jun Takahashi: I'll tell the rest of the Council in the morning. Will you be out for the rest of the week?

Ichiro: Yes.

Jun Takahashi: Damn. Okay, get well. Keep your phone near you; I'll call if I need help with something.

Jun Takahashi: Oh, and Ichiro-kun? One more thing, real quick.

Ichiro: What?

Jun Takahashi: I tried talking to Maeda-san again the other day. She was just… pretending that I didn't exist. I'm worried that she might be…

Jun Takahashi: Well, sick.

Jun Takahashi: Should I try to send her to the clinic tomorrow so we can get Nurse administer some medicine?

Ichiro:

11:23 P.M.
Jun Takahashi: Ichiro-kun? Still there?

Ichiro: Sorry. I sneezed for a full minute and ended up with a nosebleed. All over my phone. Anyway, no, don't administer anything. Have Yuuko and Kei look after her for the day tomorrow, and tell me if she seems to get worse.

Jun Takahashi: Got it. Goodnight, Ichiro-kun. Get well, yeah?

Ichiro: Thank you, Jun. Night.

Big Sister read through the relatively trivial bit of dialogue with disinterest. There were hundreds of snippets like this being sent all across the city, after all. Still, she took the data and had it cataloged somewhere deep in her memory, in case it would come up later. It was always good to have redundant data, after all.

And now she could spend more time ogling over her little brother.

...

...He sleeps like a baby.

Big Sister regarded her Silas with a special kind of fondness that she reserved for no other living being currently on the planet. Silas was curled up on the floor, sheets wrapped around his slumbering body, earbuds serenading him with the travelling theme from Tale of Merika, an uplifting tune that primarily relied on harpsichords and legato violins to form the melody. On a hunch, Big Sister made a quick scan of Silas's brain activity; as she suspected, he was dreaming.

Examining Silas like this made Big Sister even more sure in the fact that it was right to withhold that information from him. What kind of Big Sister could she possibly be, to endanger his peace of mind with such unimportant information? The boy deserved a bit of levity from all of these stresses. Besides, Big Sister reasoned, there was something humans often said about bliss in ignorance that certainly rang true... Hee.

Added to that, her latest attempt to hack the NSciPNET was a resounding success. Unfortunately, like last time, she doubted she would be able to remain on the database for more than one data retrieval query…

Decisions, decisions~

>Please enter query:

[] [BS] >open file (Write-in: FILENAME.EXT)

A/N: You can put these keywords and extensions together to make a query request. Syntax is important! You don't need to use these specific filenames or extensions, but if the file you try to find doesn't exist, the operation will fail.

And yes, there are more files available than the ones listed here. Wouldn't recommend trying to crack a file without some prior knowledge, though.

File Names (Ordered by popularity):

002_incidentreport_a
nscp-002
termin_requestV2
002_testlog3
nscp-231
002_testlog2
O5memo_23
nscp-173-j

Available Extensions:

.scp
.tbl
.txt
.form
.user

~~~

The halftrack's wheels bumped noisily with the rough dirt road underneath his dangling feet. Silas remembered hearing from one of the veterans that putting limbs outside the vehicle was a great way to lose them… but honestly, he couldn't care less.

The Revolution had finally come to him. Perhaps it was an inevitability; perhaps he could have done something to prevent it; perhaps he could have ran. It's not like the Revolutionaries persecuted those who ran from the front lines, for there were always more willing, voluntary bodies for them to throw against the Eastern oppressors.

But then again… if he kept on running forever, he'd never be able to look at himself in the mirror ever again. Himself, or his Big Sister.

The thought that Big Sis was rooting for him brought a bit of color back to his face. He gripped his Everyman rifle a bit tighter, and his fingers clenched more securely around a tiny metal gear - a good luck charm from Big Sis.

"Last stop, gentlemen!" the driver yelled from the front. He could hear it; he could feel it. Bullets whizzing by his ear. Explosions of the bombards and airships having their quarrel. Shouts and lamentations of soldiers all around; barking orders; screaming for medics; calling in the battery stationed down the road to bomb this position or that. "Welcome to Hill 113, Yamaha, of the Eastern Front! Keep your head about you and you might just make this a two-way trip!" the woman laughed jovially.

The soldiers with him were a mess of rifles, baggy clothes, helmets and belts. He couldn't make out their faces. He tried not to.

Stepping out into the world almost made him feel dizzy. All around were faded, trampled Ambern wheat stalks superceded by green-tinged tents, boxes of ammunition, and winding trenches, pillboxes, bunkers and barbed wire. It made him shiver.

He wanted to go home and drink coffee and watch stageplays and read books again.

"Name?" an officer was addressing him directly.

"Yamigawa. S-Silas Yamigawa," he stuttered, in spite of himself.

The officer seemed to consider him for a moment. "You look to be a… Private First Class, then. I'm attaching you to Platoon 4-1. They're currently nice and entrenched on the north side. Follow the signposts and you'll end up there eventually. Ask someone for help if you can't make it. Once you get there, just do whatever the leftenant there tells you to do and you'll make it out okay."

"A-Alright…" Silas replied, uneasily.

"Hey." The officer punched him softly. Silas noticed the man's uniform was covered in a fine layer of grime and dirt, though at some point he must have looked dashing in that officer's coat. "Long Live," he says. It's the old Merikajin revolutionary chant.

Silas smiled tentatively. There was only one proper, patriotic and customary response. "...L-Long Live the Republic."

~~~

There was no grand welcoming ceremony for him once he reached his platoon's side of the fortification line. At the very least, it seemed like this area didn't see as much war as the place where everyone else had been dropped off. Quickly, Silas ducked underneath a line of sandbags providing cover for a trenchline and tried to feel his way into what he assumed was the command bunker; it was getting pretty dark.

"Hey."

Silas jumped, nearly buckling under the weight of his fatigues and stumbling backwards.

"Woah - You okay?" a small girl stood over him, donning the insignia of a Revolutionary Battalion field medic. It was a red-and-white crest, set to a background of a silver torch. The girl giggled softly. "You look like you've seen a ghost. Boo!"

"Eep!" Silas flinched. The girl giggled again. Silas could barely make out her face in the dim light afforded by a nearby lantern.

"Sorry, sorry…" she wiped a tear between fits of chuckling. She extended a hand to the boy. "My name's Mika. I'm responsible for cutting you open if you get shot. Nice to meet you!"

"S-Silas Yamigawa…" he took her hand hesitantly. "...private first-class. I-i-it's a pleasure."

"Silas… Sai...rasu… Sai-kun! Cool." Mika pulled him up. Her face and body were more visible up close. She was short, and her eyes still had a youthful spark to them - she was probably as young as him, in fact. "Private First Class... So they gave you a rank, huh? Must be some sort of reorganization thing the Council came up recently. I never got a rank…" she puffed her cheeks.

Silas shuffled his feet awkwardly. "...sorry…"

"Sorry?!" Mika balked. "What are you sorry about?"

"Well I mean I got to have a title and you didn't and I d-don't think I deserve s-something that you don't have considering you've been here longer?" Silas sputtered, more a question than a statement.

"Pfff," Mika scoffed. "Ranks and titles are pretty much meaningless, you know? I just think it's cool you have one. Don't put yourself down like that!"

Silas hesitated briefly. "Okay," he said.

"Anyway, care to step inside? We're having breakfast!" Mika gestured towards the tent flap behind her. There seemed to be a warm fire in there, and lively voices. Someone - a girl - was singing an old patriotic song. Something about 'cold, wintery slopes.'

"...it's midnight," Silas responded.

"So?" she asked, rotating her head just a cinch. "Command never gets us our food on time, so for the evening rations we ended up with bacon onigiri and liberty eggs. Whatever those are." she rolled her eyes playfully.

"...do you have any taco rice?"

"Hah!" Mika laughed out loud. "Taco rice! That's rich. You're funny!" she continued on laughing, clamping an arm around Silas's shoulder. "C'mon, lemme show you inside. You can meet my trench-buddies! I'm sure we'll all get along just fine."

"O-Oh, uh… okay!" Silas started to feel himself hyperventilating. MIka seemed to notice; she shot him a concerned look. "E-Er… u-uh… s-sorry! I'm… not good around people…"

"Aww…" Mika grinned sympathetically. "You're good! Don't apologize so much. In we go! After you, rookie!"

And, hand clasped with Mika, Silas made his way into the command tent. Her fingers felt warm… unconsciously, he felt himself gripping her fingers just a bit tighter as she thrust him forward into the glow. He trust her. He trust her completely. He'd only known her for these few precious seconds, but this was one thing he knew for a fact. Once he crossed the threshold, there would be no going back, and that thought made him mortified for a second... but inside, he was met by a deluge of smiling faces. So many smiling faces.

~~~

"Friends…" Silas mumbled into his bed-sheets. In his groggy, sleepy stupor, he didn't realize it, but he had stained the surface of his pillow with his tears. They were happy tears. "I have…"

~~~

FERVENT provided a bonus! Choose one:

[] [MOOD] Silas thinks tomorrow is going to be a good day to hang out with his friends at Drama Club! (REL +3 for All Club Members (Except Yumika, who will get REL +1) when the club turn iterates)
[] [MOOD] Silas feels like tomorrow will be a great day to interact with someone he doesn't usually talk to! (Gain REL +8 for random student in Class 4-1 who Silas does not know yet.)
[] [MOOD] Silas is invigorated by his good memories in Merika and will try to make a few online friends! (Gain a new Close Acquaintance next turn)
[] [MOOD] Silas channels his enthusiasm to indulge even further in computers! (The next three computer-related actions auto-succeed.)

Zirin · Mar 12, 2018

[X] [MOOD] Silas thinks tomorrow is going to be a good day to hang out with his friends at Drama Club! (REL +3 for All Club Members (Except Yumika, who will get REL +1) when the club turn iterates)

Jhin Lemon · Mar 12, 2018

[X] [BS] >open file O5memo_23.txt

[X] [MOOD] Silas thinks tomorrow is going to be a good day to hang out with his friends at Drama Club! (REL +3 for All Club Members (Except Yumika, who will get REL +1) when the club turn iterates)

Spectrum · Mar 12, 2018

LuciDreamer said:
Ichiro: Sorry. I sneezed for a full minute and ended up with a nosebleed. All over my phone.

Yeesh. I'm going to chalk this one up as a side effect of some kind of drugs he had to be taking (anti-mnemonics, who knows).

LuciDreamer said:
And now she could spend more time ogling over her little brother.

...

...He sleeps like a baby.

Big Sister regarded her Silas with a special kind of fondness that she reserved for no other living being currently on the planet.

Blurgh. C'mon Big Sister, I'm trying not to shun you too hard given the crappy situation, but you're totally putting me on the Nanami train.

LuciDreamer said:
Stepping out into the world almost made him feel dizzy. All around were faded, trampled Ambern wheat stalks superceded by green-tinged tents, boxes of ammunition, and winding trenches, pillboxes, bunkers and barbed wire. It made him shiver.

Oh no you can't let the front lines get to your breadbasket, that is how you lose. : (

LuciDreamer said:
"Sorry, sorry…" she wiped a tear between fits of chuckling. She extended a hand to the boy. "My name's Mika. I'm responsible for cutting you open if you get shot. Nice to meet you!"

Er...I hope she means sewing you back up, not cutting you open...

LuciDreamer said:
"So?" she asked, rotating her head just a cinch. "Command never gets us our food on time, so for the evening rations we ended up with bacon onigiri and liberty eggs. Whatever those are." she rolled her eyes playfully.

*opens mouth*

*closes mouth*

Actually, bacon onigiri might be kinda okay?

LuciDreamer said:
He trust her. He trust her completely.

trusted

[X] [BS] >open file O5memo_23.txt

This is still the file I wanted to read in the first place. The O5s seeeeeem to be kind of the people in charge, one renegade aside.

[X] [MOOD] Silas feels like tomorrow will be a great day to interact with someone he doesn't usually talk to! (Gain REL +8 for random student in Class 4-1 who Silas does not know yet.)

Silas doesn't need new online friends, that way is the path of the NEET. The +3 to Drama Club is a little weak sauce and we're likely to be raising them all passively anyway given Club activities.
Computer is fine if we want to commit to doing those actions--that's a rather powerful effect. But I personally am still not on the Big Sister train so I don't really care.
Thusly, I'd rather go fishing for someone new in the class who might help fill out the relationship web.

Zirin · Mar 12, 2018

Spectrum said:
Blurgh. C'mon Big Sister, I'm trying not to shun you too hard given the crappy situation, but you're totally putting me on the Nanami train.

I think I may be the only person in the whole thread who actually finds Nanami creepier than Big Sis. Maybe because I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop, or because it feels more "normal" to have a computer program base their entire identity on being helpful to somebody else than it'd be for an human? #RoboRacism

Spectrum · Mar 12, 2018

I'm also not okay with Reina if only because that variant seems to be closer to Hanamura and PFFFT to that.

Then again, is it worse to be entirely offscreen and maybe not even exist or worse to exist but only a couple people can interact with you?

Hmm...

The Perfectly Normal High School: A Slice of Life Quest! (Defunct)

Leastmost of the Hanged Man Arcana

Maliciously Incompetent

It Only Gets Worse From Here

Tell me a secret~

Leastmost of the Hanged Man Arcana

Leastmost of the Hanged Man Arcana

Maliciously Incompetent

Lacking in coffee, sleep, and brains

Tell me a secret~

Leastmost of the Hanged Man Arcana

Tell me a secret~

Leastmost of the Hanged Man Arcana

Maliciously Incompetent

Maliciously Incompetent

Lawful Cute

Tell me a secret~

Tell me a secret~