Finally have the time and will to spaghetti the update!~
"It really is… six o'clock…" Silas mumbled. He yawned. He needed to get out of bed.
Without Big Sister.
Then he'd get dressed. He showered last night already, so no need for that. He'd need to make sure his bag had all the stuff he needed for today.
Without Big Sister.
He needed to eat breakfast. Grab a coat. Head out the door, walk into the wind.
Without Big Sister.
This is good for Silas. You can tell because he's in horrible, emotional pain.
But seriously he's way too unable to function without BS in his life. If he intends to get a Hana-I mean, girlfriend in his life, then being this close to BS is pretty bad.
I like BS though so I think it's okay to keep her relationship pretty high. If this is the 90's, we should probably aim for the 50's or 60's relationship range. That way they're still super close but she's not a security blanket.
"Cold…?" Silas whispered, voice still weak and cracky from morning sickness. Hesitantly, he stepped outside, letting more of that icy wind to grace the exposed parts of his coat.
"It's… cold. Really, really cold." Silas said. He… grinned. "...t-that's pretty nice."
I'm the same way, Silas. Something about being inside a lot must make one inured to chilly environs.
DREAMY - Anything involving creativity gets a small boost. Any action of a nature or in a setting that reminds Silas of home gets +30 to ST.
NERVOUS - All social interactions suffer from -6 ST.
Overall, pretty good. That probably would actually have cancelled out the malus from the MMO if we had brought Hana and Yumika home. The Rikuriku event is okay though, and we might get the Siren in on it too, which I guess would be good.
"Onii-chan, why is that boy so happy?"
"Maybe he got a girlfriend? I don't know."
"No one is allowed to be happy in this cold! Onii-chan, can you do something about this?!"
"Come on, Niko-chan. I need to take you to school already… Oh, come on. Stop pouting. I know you're pouting back there. Sheesh…"
Onii-chan knows better than to come between a man and his cute, adorable, serious, hair-over-the-eye gorgeous fashion model for nerds of an SCP!
Okay so I made most of that up but still. I wonder what infatuation tastes like to Hana?
"W-W-Whatever imbecile called forth this cold weather d-d-deserves to be tried and e-e-executed for t-treason against the State! This is so cold it borders on magic!"
"Sheesh, I know, right? Sometimes I wish we still burnt oil… maybe a little global warming wouldn't be so bad after all…"
"Come again?"
"N-Nothing, Taro. C'mon, let's get inside, it's freezing out here!"
So this society doesn't use fossile fuels. That would make sense, if all the best deposits were already exploited by someone else...
"Oh, you wanted to talk to me? Why, Silas, I'm so flattered!" Chihiro was positively jubilant.
Chii-kun continues to be unsettlingly Kafka-esque. This is the type of guy who would let 682 out of containment to see if he could ride it.
"It's negative-ten Celsius," Silas cut him off. "S-Survivable. L-Liveable, even, i-if you have a coat. B-But h-h-having students like us in t-this cold in our g-g-gym shorts runs the risk of actually g-g-giving some of us frostbite…"
That's quite cold for an archipelago! How far north
is Mihoku?
"I'd like to apologize on behalf of the school. We truly had no idea it was that cold outside."
Sensei, please invest in some thermometers.
Silas had never seen their Principal before. For some reason, he expected a sharply dressed foreign woman with a quick tongue, or a bulky, heavyset Yakuza-type character badly-hiding a submachine gun under his surcoat, or maybe an unassuming pale guy with indoor sunglasses, a three-piece suit, and a wire headset, with his loyal Student Council members flanking him.
However, the principal of Yamaha was none of those things. By no means meek, he wasn't particularly dangerous-looking, either. He had the face and the appearance of a Diet Member, sans any of the signature smarminess or condescendence. He was even shorter than a number of students.
...it was weird, how absolutely boring he was.
LuciD, I request more descriptions of characters like this. We've known Yumika since week one and the only thing we know about her is that she has twintails.
Actually, a physical description section in the character sheet would work. Provide a place to put hints and foreshadowing too.
"Anyway, nurse Kurata tells me that none of you have any… lasting injuries," the Principal cringed slightly at those words. "Which is a great relief."
Classes 2-5, 3-2, and 4-1 just groaned in response.
"Also, I've personally placed Toyotomi-sensei on administrative leave. In case any of you were worried about having to go back out into the cold again. Please; take as long as you need to get warm and return to your classes when you are able. I'd like to thank Miss Kanezawa from Class 3-2 for taking initiative and seeking out a member of staff. Kanezawa-san, I promise you Toyotomi-sensei will bear no ill-will to you from this incident."
1: bullshit he won't
2: Why the hell did he think dragging the kids outside to run in baruma was a good idea in -10 degree C weather was a good idea?
"Yes! Exactly! Finally, someone understands my sense of fun. Say, Silas-kun, do you want to go fake-rob a bank later? Since no one will get hurt, it'd be a great experience!"
This is sarcasm!
right? Please say yes...
"Agh! So stubborn! My poor, aching pride!" Hanamura laughed. "I can't believe it! How can you look at this boring, regular old world and not want to shake it up like a snowglobe? I mean it's not like it matters, anyway. And besides, chaos is awesome!"
I maintain at least 50 kilometers is the safest distance from any crazy fucker who thinks chaos is awesome in a universe with the
SCP Foundation involved. Again, this is the kind of guy who encourages people to give 106 a hug, I think.
I probably ought to read that article again, but I'm already having problems with my sleep schedule.
"Now remember, Shinohara-san, you have to memorize these sentence structures for next time. Okay? I do not want to have to fail you…"
we mus halp teh hana
hana we here 2 halp
"That's good to know," Sensei nodded. "Goodness, that Toyotomi-sensei... anyway, I hope Homura-sensei was a good substitute?"
"W-We had a substitute last week?"
Shinohara snorted. Sensei's smile drooped into a frown. "Yamigawa-kun! Don't tell me you didn't notice I was gone?"
Ouch. Silas, you can't say things like that! Even if it's true!
Okay so we may have been distracted from dealing with the Foundation and almost getting enough votes to get a SCP to crush on us, but still!
It was one of those content, calm silences that followed. As students took their seats and started up the usual chatter, turning the room's ambiance into a sea of voices and laughter, Silas and Shinohara sat in their small part of the room, nary a word passing between them. It may have been a small thing to most others, but to Silas, sitting with Shinohara meant the world.
Sitting with her, Silas felt he finally belonged somewhere.
Aww. That's sweet.
After a particularly drawn-out gulp, she muttered under her breath, "Tasteless…"
Or not, I suppose.
How hungry
are you, Hanachan? Do you ever get full? What flavor is [X emotion]? Do you need real food, or just emotion? I want to do science to her, so bad! Where do the emotions go once they're in her throat? Does she have an emotion stomach? Does it transport to a dreamrealm? Can she taste her own emotions? How large is her feeding radius? Can she only feed through the one wall, or can she eat from anyone in the school? With what fidelity in form and direction can she taste emotions without noticeably eating from them? Could she act as a human radar? Can she eat ALL the emotions? What happens?
Not that we have anyone to safely test some of that on, but I'm still super interested.
Silas gulped, himself. He decided to take the momentary brake from their comfy silence to bring up his plan. "Soo… um…"
In an instant, Hana's ears perked up, and she had him at rapt attention. "Mhm?"
She had
him at rapt attention just by twitching her ears.
Yumika BTFO.
"...eep." Silas's cheeks burned. Again. "W-Well, um, you know, I… there's this thing, that I want to do, and I… uh…"
Silas's mind numbed, and he started waiting for Hana to prompt him to continue. When she didn't, he tried to regain his own momentum: "Y-You… and I… I wanted to… you know… err…"
"Is this a confession?" Hana asked suddenly, looking slightly amused.
It wasn't meant to be but now it is get in the van we're going shopping for wedding dresses
"No! A-Absolutely not!" Silas exclaimed. Between everything else he was juggling, he never really had time to think about Hana in that way...
You're trying to tell me Silas doesn't...?
I guess with BS there it might be hard to get some alone time but come on. And Silas definitely seems the type who puts an emotional emphasis on
that so there's probably no way he hasn't thought about either Yumika or Shinohara like that.
"Well…" Hana made a circular motion with her fingers. "Get to the point. I don't bite." She paused, putting her index finger on her lower lip, then looked sideways and coughed. "Though… I might just take a nibble. Heheh. Sorry. Bad joke, Continue?"
I want to get her to stop apologizing for making jokes about her own nature. She treats it like something to be ashamed of, but the way she actually handles it is very admirable and praiseworthy. I propose we move forward with Operations Tomatoface and Snugglebug, post-haste!
But more seriously maybe having people to talk about it to that are okay with it will help her open up. I'd like Shinohara to feel free to giggle about her diet one day, instead of being afraid to bring it up with people who already know and don't mind. She
saved Maeda. She's a superheroine!
"Great! Thanks!" Silas breathed. "E-Err… after all, it's not like I just want to do this for fun, either. I thought it would be good if we could… compare notes? Yeah. Like an information network."
Wordlessly, Hana nodded. She didn't think Silas noticed, but her eyes darted in Maeda's direction before flitting back to him.
Silas decided to try his luck. "Can you try to get Yumika-san to come with us, too?"
"Hmm…" Hana tapped her chin. "That sounds like a good idea, actually. Having her around should help calm my nerves out there," Hana shuddered. She looked at him meaningfully. "...in case you couldn't tell, I'm not the best around large groups of strangers. It's ah… tempting. Heheh." She made one of those scary, evil-sounding giggles again, before immediately shutting herself down and blushing deeply. "Ahem. Sorry about that. Once I get ahold of her, I'll tell her that we plan to meet. What time?"
I'm very glad that this has begun. Shinohara deserves both to know the Foundation exists (and is liable to lock her up and poke her with sticks) and to know her friends care enough about her to take action when they sense a threat.
Shinohara and Silas seem like people who don't make a whole lot of good friends so the friends they do have have exceptional value, whereas Yumika makes tons of friends that are "cheaper" and rarely let's anyone much closer than that. So it'll be good for all involved to have confirmation that they actually care and value their relationships. I'm expecting a BIG BOOST if this meeting goes well.
Her one eye that was visible through her hair twitched. She looked genuinely dumbfounded. "Then… what's that thing, then?" she asked, pointing at the rectangular shaped bulge in Silas's pocket.
She has the best hairstyle too?!
LuciD, this is important info! Important! How are we supposed to properly know who's best girl when we don't know one of them has the MOST patrician haircut?!
(ᗒᗜᗕ)՛̵̖
"Okay…" Silas stared at the phone. A small part of him refused to believe that Hana just… trusted him like that. She'd only known him for a few weeks, after all.
cute
Also proof positive that the way to a girl's heart is to watch her pig out on her favorite food without judging.
"I just…" Kamasaki-sensei glanced over at Hana's desk."I noticed you two seem close. Forgive me if it seems like I am intruding on your personal lives, but, if you have the time, could you help Shinohara-san in her studies? Perhaps over the weekend?"
"That's… t-that's a strange request, sensei, but… okay."
Kamasaki-sensei seemed relieved. "Thank you. Don't think I'm pressuring you, by the way." She gave him a small, honest smile. "Really, this year, it seems like this class has been getting more and more crazy… I don't want to have to worry about Shinohara-san, too. Oh, but what am I doing, rambling like this? Sensei has a class to run…"
The middling teacher hobbled over to the front of the room, and, dutifully, Maeda rose to call everyone to attention. Silently, Silas slipped Shinohara's phone into his pocket.
I dunno how valuable Sensei's relationship meter really is with all the other stuff on our plate, but I'd like to take the chance for more Hana interaction and opportunity to nudge Silas into fulfilling Operation Tomatoface. Plus, teaching helps make one better at the subject on it's own, so it's a pretty sizable win all around. We should do it.
Besides, Hana's house is probably free of bugs and such, and might make a good meeting ground for SELF meetings. And we get to meet
our future inlaws her parents! I'd like to see how LuciD handles them.
Yumika: Is this Sai-kun?
Silas freed his other hand and started tapping a response onto the thin glass screen.
Hana: Yes. Hi, Yumika.
Yumika: lol where are u?
Hana: Uhh… riding home. Why?
Yumika: …
Yumika: plz tell me ur joking
Yumika: plz, or my heart won't be able to take it
Hana: I don't get it, did I do something wrong?
Yumika: Drama Club, Sai-kun
Yumika: You have a Drama Club meeting today (๑´ㅂ`๑)
Hana: Oh god im so sorry
Yumika: LOOLL
Yumika: HOW DID U EVEN LEAVE SCHOOL?! (ᗒᗜᗕ)՛̵̖
Yumika: oh wait the Empress changed the whole mandatory club thing
Yumika: But still! u should have attracted suspicion or something
Hana: I'm in a bus surrounded by adults and no students i should have picked up on this faster
Yumika: im sorry gimme a moment
Yumika: im laughing so much right now
Yumika: Sai-kun is master spy (ノ＞▽＜。)ノ
Hana: I'm so, soooo sorry.
Yumika: nah its fine, u didnt miss anything. We just squabbled over Mikados theme choice for a whole hour and then sensei brought us cookies so we got nothing done
Yumika: I'll tell you about it when we go to the RikuRiku thing this evening
Hana: Thanks for understanding, again I'm really sorry
Yumika: nah im just glad you werent nabbed by metropol or the Student Council or something
Yumika: Like I said, Sai-kun is master spy (ノ＞▽＜。)ノ
Uh, oops.
Did we have anything to do with this,
@LuciDreamer ? Or was this scripted/rolled for?
Yumika: oh and about the thing you wanted to go to this evening
Yumika: since its RikuRiku, tho, can we bring Renji-kun and Riku-nee along?
Yumika: Renji-kun might not look like it, but he's really into Syntheti
Yumika: and riku-nee is uh
Yumika: well you know
Hana: Yeah I know
Yumika: lol is it that obvious?
Hana: heh
Did Hana not pass along the fact that this was supposed to be a conspiracy? Yumika,
you're supposed to be the master spy!
I'm fine with those two though. I've gotten very low threat-level readings from them, and hopefully we'll be able to contain Renji's temper by having a concrete plan and by the threat being rather slow and lumbering and not as immediate. Riku's probably a SCP herself, so she was going to be my next invite
anyway, and her and Renji are a package deal.
Still, Hana, pls tell Yumika we're discussing Mysteries and this isn't a pleasure trip.
That's why I wanted to make sure Yumika knew about Hana's Mystery; if we knew she did, we could allude to it and make passing along our point of "are you sure they can be trusted? And is Hana okay with spilling the beans to them?" much easier.
