Yawning, Simeon enters the Far Off Field on F12. There, he takes a leisurely stroll to H15, where he points the Zaliska at Spotter2, and the Pocket Scanner at Medic2. He pulls the trigger on both guns, using Observer's Eye to ping the Medic if they aren't already down.

Also, he joins Magic Club.

"Hello yes am here"

<ROUND ONE-HUNDRED TWENTY-FOUR>

...The game detects a wave of crafting, respecs, and stat point distribution! It opts to tackle those first. Let's begin, shall we?



As an additional note, 190 Samples were spent on Dome's Gospel, two instances of Capacitor, and Lyonne.

---

Astrec goes treasure hunting! He heads over to the bridge... and gets shot multiple times by both sides before he can even reach the bridge. He falls in and dies. He respawns moments later, no worse for wear.

---

Toast decrees that the first Magic Club is in session! As people unfold, Marron opts to showcase her magic to the group.



After her speech, she sits down next to Toast, leaning against her. There's a somewhat visible blush enveloping her face.

MARRON: S-So... how'd I do?
MARRON: N-Not great at public speaking, but... w-well, I tried.

---

Because I skipped over it, Hex chats with a few people. First, he chats with Omo. What was her summon doing?

OMORIKA: I... I don't know.
OMORIKA: Normally I'd need to directly will my summons to do that, but it seemed to... move on its own.
OMORIKA: It's unprecedented. Have I perhaps done something to them? I'd like to research into this...

Hex also chats with the Husk, asking if he's the Sleuth or not. It laughs at him.

HUSK: The Husk laughs, words coming out between gasps for air. "Am I the Sleuth?"
HUSK: He stares the clueless fool in the eyes. "There hasn't been a Sleuth for a long, long time."

Hex then extends his arm for a handshake... and it's immediately seized! Hex is pulled into the fence, and into the flower bushes, which haven't been de-thorned! He keeps yanking on his arm, his two other sporadically-existent glitch arms making it incredibly hard to break free!

HUSK: "I've been feeling something weird as of late", remarks the Husk with a crazed fire in his eyes. "Ever since I saw that girl, I've felt funnier than usual. And I'm a funny guy."
HUSK: The Husk releases the arm of the fool, leaving him to his pain. "I want- we want to have a bit of fun!"

The Husk suddenly jumps over the fence with a single hop. A set of glitched wings form behind him, which flap a few times before disappearing. The Husk is now clinging onto the Barrier around Scale Yggdrasil, quite a ways up. He begins to blindly scurry around the barrier, much like an insect would. That's not concerning in the slightest!

---

Nezira asks Chloe out... to walk to the Magic Club. But first, they chat about the world- everything's back to normal!

CHLOE: I mean, everything looks normal...
CHLOE: But deep down, I kinda feel like everything's... weird. Probably just because I've been on a space station for the last few hours, but bleh.

CHLOE: ...The crash was scary, yeah. I-I didn't really know what would happen, b-but it was nice to just wait there with a friend, even with all the paranoia...
CHLOE: S-So... thanks!

Anyway, then Nezira asks if she wants to come with her to the Magic Club. She nods.

CHLOE: Oh, sure!
CHLOE: I'm afraid I won't be able to contribute much, but I think I'll learn a whole lot!
CHLOE: Let's go!

The two of them share a nice, somewhat long walk to Magic Club- just in time to catch Marron's TED Talk presentation on blood magic. She seems a little disturbed by the fact that Marron carries around literal jars of her blood, but is otherwise fascinated. The two of them sit around the picnic blanket, awaiting the next presentation.

CHLOE: Ah, Nez! You should go and present!
CHLOE: I mean, I've already kinda listened to you, but I don't think anyone else really knows! It'd be cool!

She looks at her, smiling gently with expectant eyes. peer pressure oh noooooo

---

Venia does a few things. She first reunites with Maria, hugging both her and Chloe in one tight wrap. Chloe barely manages to stop herself from giggling as Maria attempts to sing something. Maria then suddenly vanishes as she teleports to the Magic Club that Toast is hosting.

Then, despite the complications presented by reality rebooting, she keeps delving through Nia's Mindscape. She opts to chat with the Queen Nia, asking where the Butterfly "stuck" something onto her. She responds by taking off her shades, and pointing at her eyes. They're hollow, black, and possess a glowing red <0> within them.

QUEEN NIA: Riiiight here. Both of them.
QUEEN NIA: It hurt. Like, a lot. Not as much as one would think getting stabbed in the eyes would, because I don't really -have- eyes, but... it still hurt.

...Venia inspects her eyes. However, it's somewhat hard to inspect an inky black void for signs of damage, or anything weird like that. Venia then says that she'll need to investigate a few more parts of the Mindscape... and that she's here for her, however bad it gets.

QUEEN NIA: A-Alright! Just please, please stay away from the hole, alright?
QUEEN NIA: It... it isn't safe.

QUEEN NIA: ...A-Anyway, thanks f-for... being... here!
QUEEN NIA: I-It's been hard as of late, and maybe the actual me won't tell you as much, but she appreciates you! A lot!
QUEEN NIA: She's there for you, too~

The Nia waves goodbye as Venia exits the mountain, approaching the hole which Nia told her not to enter. She jumps in, head first into the ceaseless abyss. The Butterfly stares idly at her as she makes the jump.



Back in reality, Chloe and Venia discuss exactly what the hell the creature was. Venia notes that it might be suppressed negative emotions. Chloe gasps, taken aback.

CHLOE: W-What!?
CHLOE: ...B-But, Nia's like, one of the sunniest, funniest, and generally upbeat people I know! W-Why would she even have something l-like that!?
CHLOE: U-Um...

CHLOE: ...
CHLOE: D-Did I-I do t-this to her? N-No, I... w-we s-should, we s-should...

Chloe goes silent, staring at the floor with bated eyes. She's completely silent, up until Venia pierces the silence with a question about Nia's parents. Chloe suddenly snaps back to reality, stuttering and stammering as she tries to formulate a response.

CHLOE: O-Oh, h-her parents!?
CHLOE: I never a-actually met her parents! I'd ask about them, b-but she'd usually just dismiss the question, o-or change the topic...
CHLOE: ...A-Are you implying something? I-I mean, how could a person like Nia be... Nia, i-if she had bad parents, o-or something like that!?

Chloe gains +3 levels in Denial. Maybe one day, these will rank up to Anger, then Bargaining if we're lucky.

---

Calibri gifts a plushie to Chloe. He tries his best to gift the plushie to Chloe, but his awkwardness deflects off himself and onto her. She can't help but blush!

CHLOE: Ah, f-for... me?
CHLOE: U-Um...

She takes the Calibri Plushie from its namesake. She holds it away from her with both hands extended outward, before giving it a small toss into the air, which she combos into a cute lil' hug. She yelps a little as it hugs her back.

CHLOE: Huh, he's a cutie.
CHLOE: M-Maybe it's a little weird that he looks like you, but plushies are always cute!
CHLOE: Thanks! I'd equip him, b-but rules are rules...
CHLOE: ...I think I'll let him stay with plushie me for now~

Still blushing, she carries down the Calibri Plushie to her room, and plops it down next to the Chloe Plushie. They're rather cute together! Verdana meanwhile, waits for something to happen. He then suddenly hears the sound of creeking wood as the baby Gallow suddenly shoots up in size! It suddenly wakes up, shrieking and squawking angrily. It then sights Verdana, and promptly calms down rather quickly. Upon closer inspection, it appears to have grown to about the size of one of those old-timey television sets, compared to the size of like a human head that it was before.

...It seems hungry. Probably for flesh delicious birb food. It's also probably mature enough to be a moderately competent entity in combat. EN then decides to bake a cake! She combines one of each of the following items:
-a Chocolate Egg
-a Lumipod
-a Celefruit
-a Gaiaroot Potato
-a Coffee Bean
-a Fragapple
-a slab of Yggcrawler Meat
-a can of Bob Epic Pop (rolled: 4)
-a Temmie Flake
-a Cinderfruit
-a bit of Disgusting Food
-a Durasteel Ingot
-a Speaker System
-a vial of Splinter Spider Venom
-a Deathcap Mushroom
-a Corpsetaker Leg
-a Throwlem Crystal
-a Blade Strain charge

She then combines this with 3 Wheat, 9 Iron (for milk buckets, which go into the cake too), 2 bags of Salt because it looks like sugar, and then an Iti Cell since that's the closest thing she has to an egg. She tosses the vaguely cake-shaped object into the oven. Elsewhere, across reality, Gordon Ramsay feels a disturbance in the universe. He's forced to leave the set of [INSERT SHOW HERE] to rest, becoming rather suddenly ill. Meanwhile, on Sussui, Marron feels compelled to whip out her crossbow, gripping it tightly. Something's amiss.

...Ding! Cake's done. The Atrocity obtained! THIS IS TOTALLY SAFE. EN suddenly takes 1 Karma Damage.

EN ACCOMPLISHMENT GET: Cake Boss

---

Auth checks up on Nana. She's about as flustered as ever, if somewhat dizzy after the transition.

NANA: Y-Yeah, I'm fine!
NANA: It's just kinda jarring, knowing t-that everyone d-died technically only a few seconds ago-
WILLOW: ...Eh?
NANA: N-Nothing!

He then asks her if she'd like to go and punch a tank to death. She nods.

NANA: S-Sure, but didn't we o-only just get into a battle?
NANA: I-I mean, I feel ready, but...
NANA: ...Let's go!

---

Irongutta decides to craft a pen for Piggo! He uses 7 pieces of Refined Wood, a Compost Blob to be used as a sort of muddy, messy thing that pigs love, and two Gaiaroot potatoes as feed!

---

<FAR OFF FIELD, ROUND TWO>
Pretty solid start here. While the party's sustained some light overall damage, R4's entire original crew of supporting rebels was taken out, so you're free to DPS the big guy itself! Try focusing down Autocannon 1: it's trying to nail Boshi with Heavy Calibur, and if you take it out, it won't be able to shoot him! Otherwise, just be careful- the bomb bays will delete the entire party if not destroyed!

Time for more treasure hunting because ME WANT SHINIES
Items Needed:
Small AI core x1
Drill of some kind (Crystaldig)
Wire scraps x25
Joltwire x2
Circuit boards x4
Titanium x4
Aero Cores x2
Cog x3
Astrec gets up from respawning and grimaces. So that didn’t work. What about... oh. Oh. That might work.
He immediately gets to work. First he purchases a AI core, then adds Aero Cores to the shop and buys two. Then, he gathers the rest of the materials and begins. First, he melts and molds the Titanium (except for one bar) to a new shape, molding it into the bare shell of a drone.
Then he attaches the Crystaldig Drill, quickly modified to work underwater, to the drone shape. Next, he takes the joltwire, wire straps, and small ai core, and links them all up, then attaches the open ends of the wire to the aero cores, allowing the AI to send pulses into them to activate them. Then, he inserts the aero cores into the drone, along with some cogs to allow them to turn.
Next, he takes the few remaining wire scraps, and circuit boards, and links them up to the AI core, along with a directive to get the treasure. Then, he takes the last titanium bar, uses it to make a grabby claw, and makes a cog mechanism to open and close it and links it i to the drone and AI. finally, the AI is hooked up the drill, and everything is ready to go.
Astrec lets the drone go, with the directive and some instructions installed. The drone flies near the lake, but not close enough to get shot at, and drills straight down until it is at the same altitude as the bottom of the lake, and drills forward, until it breaks through to the bottom of the lake. Moving fast, it zooms forward, any attackers being blasted away with the drill, and grabs the treasure with its claw. Then, it reverses, zooming back through the tunnel, and up to the surface.
Astrec retrieves the treasure and investigates it.
Or the drone fails and I cry silently in the corner.

BATTLE ACTIONS AND RP:

Hex takes the blows from R4, and stumbles, wincing.

"ow ow ow ow, that hurt.
He limps to K17, stabs the Treads, aiming the exhaust from his armor (Ember Drive) at them as well, then steps over M17, and rummages through the inventory for a healing item.
""Okay, I need some healing... ooo, a cake, that could- oh dear god what the actual gorilla".
He looks at the Atrocity for a few seconds before shrugging, cutting out a slice and consuming it.
""Oh sweet Helix how is it hot and cold at the same time."

"..I can feel it moving.


OUT OF BATTLE RP/SHOPPING:

Astrec has a bright idea after doing dronestuff, and trots over to Marron's Shop, or wherever you order, and places down a request for a Hex Plushie on a slip of paper, since Marron isn't here. T4, if you can.

Calibri seems pretty happy to see that Chloe likes the gift and would probably equip him if the limit on T4 items weren't in place. While this doesn't take away his embarrassment, it does at least help a bit.

"Glad you like him. I, uh... would've made one of you, but Nia already did that and it feels redundant to make another, so... heh."

He then becomes made aware that both the Calibri plushie and the Chloe plushie appear to be animate and aware enough to try to have a talk with one another. For a moment, all is silent, then the noise Calibri makes can only really be described as "young girl sees tiny adorable thing", followed by a thud as he ends up fainting. He's not down for long, as he promptly flickers and changes shape into some kind of cloudy mist with eye constructs in it, then flicks back into humanoid appearance as soon as he can.

"...Did I just faint? Oops. But the plushies are trying to talk with each other that's so adorable aaa~"

...Something suddenly occurs to him, his expression shifting to neutral for a moment, then he snaps his fingers a few times to stabilize his thoughts. He eventually decides to re-establish conversation with Chloe, turning his attention back to her.

"Thought of a something. Magic club. That's happening right now... Wanna go there and see what's up? Maybe partake in it yourself? I can get you there quick."


Meanwhile, down in the Basement, Verdana takes a look at Gibbet the baby gallow. Well, maybe baby is not so appropriate a term anymore, given how the bird has grown. He promptly giggles once he's sure the bird is doing okay, approaching to take a look over the bird and seeming quite happy with what he sees, reaching out with one hand to give Gibbet a gentle ruffle while retrieving a Quick Foodstuffs and Carnival Corn Dog for the hungry birb to have.

"Cool, you got bigger! I suppose you'll be needing a lot more food now, hmm? That, or maybe it's time we take you around the place... I'll talk about it with the other people. Starting with someone I trust."

There's a pause. Verdana considers how to go about getting Gibbet to not follow him, then has an obvious idea.

"Alright... I can trust you to stay here, right? Down here in the general area, that is. It's okay if you fly around and stretch your wings a bit, I just don't want to risk you getting lost outside. So. Uh... Be good for me, okay? I won't be going far."

He puts another Carnival Corn Dog out for Gibbet to have, as well as a small container of Waterdrank, then proceeds to turn and head upstairs. Once he does so, he seeks out someone in particular that he trusts to have good brain sense stuff about what to do... Since Venia is displayed on the map as being on the couch, if there's room on there, Verdana just sits down beside her and shuffles a little close, evidently getting a little happier (than usual) once he's gotten close enough. Then, he decides to speak with her a bit.

1

"Hello miss Venia! I... know you're probably busy, but a cool thing happened. The baby got bigger! And by the baby, I mean Gibbet, or the bird if you don't know that name, I can't remember if that was the agreed-on name or not. Anyway the important thing is I thought that was neat and worth mentioning. So..."

There's a pause. Verdana glances around the room for a moment, then his attention turns back to Venia and he giggles happily. It might be worth noting that he's currently emitting a faint comfortable light, one that could probably help raise some moods if people are feeling unhappy. After a moment, he keeps speaking, shuffling just a bit closer if she lets him do so.

"On a more conversational note... um... So! How have things been going up here? I kind of don't have anything to do right now so I wanted to hang out with someone nice. That, and I felt like I was missing out on witnessing important things somewhere or something..."

3

Verdana patiently listens to what Venia has to say about Gibbet growing bigger, and also about what she's been busy with. Given that she's brought up some interesting possibilities with interspecies communication, he decides to comment on that first, tapping one foot against the floor while thinking up something to say... "You mean talk like with those clicky noise things, right? Or do you mean just understanding what the little one says?" he asks, evidently interested in either possibility. Then, once Venia mentions her various worries, Verdana blinks.

"That sounds like a lot of things... Are you okay with managing that many things by yourself? I could probably help with some of that. And I'd like to help! It's better than..."

...Verdana pauses, falling silent for the duration. Eventually, he continues with "Honestly? I feel like I don't do much around here except sit around, talk to people sometimes, look after the birdy, and be cute." Whether or not he actually engages in that last thing is probably a matter of opinion... Verdana slumps a little into the back of the couch, then shifts about, and Venia might feel him leaning on her side - he'd definitely move away if she wanted him off, although he seems happy there.

"I dunno. I wanna do more things. It doesn't matter what kind of things - important things, mundane things. Maybe nice hangout things. Probably with you. Most of our interactions feel like they've been in high-stress situations. I remember that thing with Omo running off, and that thing on the station... Actually hold on, us working together to get Gibbet out of the egg wasn't high stress, so there is that..." He pauses for a moment, and a few images flicker in front of his eyes of the aforementioned scenes, then he turns to face Venia and resumes speaking, now sporting a rather large smile. "So, yeah. It'd be fun to hang out with you, I reckon! And maybe Nia too if you wanna bring her. She's nice too. In fact, you're both nice. Anyway, might as well make it an official question, so... Wanna do hangout stuff with me, miss Venia?"

The light of Confidence shines in Verdana's eyes, and faintly in the air around him.

5

Verdana nods in acknowledgement at Venia's clarification of Iti communication, then again at the matter of if they're already hanging out. Then come more serious matters - the mentioning of some of Venia's recurring issues... Verdana shrugs and shifts slightly on the couch. "No need to thank me, miss Venia. I'm just happy to help out when needed." He then falls silent once she asks about when she gets angry, needing to think...

"That's... a good question. Let me check. I've been trying to pay attention..." A few images flicker near Verdana's eyes again, but they're impossible to make out. They're probably relevant, though. Eventually, the images die off and he resumes talking. "I've been trying to pick up on whatever possible recurring trends may be present, and it mostly seems like you get angry at things that are both bad things and things you don't necessarily have control over. Examples being the thing where Omo started running off due to Lucid's taunts, and the thing where... the... you know. Bottles. Maria. That thing. In both situations, the circumstances were very bad and also outside your control." He pauses for a second to catch his breath, and promptly forgets what he was going to say for a moment, but eventually remembers.

"...If you're scared about hurting someone as a result of getting mad over something, don't worry. I'll be on hand to make sure that either doesn't happen or isn't too serious - usually the former. Honestly I'm fine with helping with anything that's a bother to you, so... let me think. If things aren't going well and you feel like you might do something dangerous, what would you want me to do? Beyond the usual things like..." Verdana promptly demonstrates by giving Venia a rather tight hug, tighter than someone of his relative size should be able to give, for a few seconds. Once he breaks off that hug, he seems to be positively glowing. Which is to say, emitting a notable amount of light that's probably pretty good on one's mood. "That. Hehe."

7

"...Interesting."

Verdana's statement comes rather bluntly compared to how he's been acting for the rest of the conversation, the light around him dying down a little. He seems interested in a more clinical, detached way at first. Of course, he eventually resumes being his normal self again. "Oh, the light around me? Nothing much. It's sort of an emotional extension of myself. When I feel a particular emotion to a high degree, that tends to manifest in my natural form, albeit if my natural form is being suppressed it takes on the form of an aura around me instead."

He demonstrates natural form by flicking his illusory human self off for a while, taking the form of that red energy being arranged in roughly humanoid shape that Venia might remember from when he'd burnt himself out on stabilizing the egg during Gibbet's hatching, then he reapplies the illusion to flick back to looking human. "Right now I'm feeling comfortable, so something like that is probably what's being reflected in the aura. Comfort, happiness, general pleasant things like that." Going by his expression and tone of voice, he's utterly clueless as to why the mood aura around him could be a problem...


Elsewhere, EN is busy with taking a look at the Atrocity she's brought into this world. She seems kind of proud of it. Well, until Boshi comes in and shares his opinion on it, at which point she glances at him, then back at the Atrocity, then back at him.

"It be a cake. Ah didn't 'ave a recipe on 'and so ah jus' threw in wha' looked right. Lemme check th' ingredients by memory while ah'm 'ere..."

There's a pause.

"Chocolate egg, lumipod, celefruit, gaiaroot potato, coffee bean, fragapple, Yggcrawler meat, one o' 'em weird cans, tha' temmie flake, cinderfruit, some o' th' carnival stuff, a durasteel ingot, some speakers, one o' 'em vials o' thingy, a mushroom, one o' 'em spider legs, one o' 'em crystal thingies, an' one o' th' blade strains. Ah might've forgotten 'alfway through wha' ah were makin', heh."

"Anyway, don't go pinchin' it while ah'm out. It's special."

EN proceeds to hurl herself out the kitchen window and go running off to go investigate something else. Namely, she runs all the way to the Endless Gardens, then slows down to a regular walk and heads inside, turning left at the appropriate time and walking off to visit Lutea. Once she's there, she chuckles and waves, then proceeds to engage the conversation mothergorilla.

"Yo. Weird woman said she were passin' by or somethin', huh. Wha'd she look like? Ah wanna know. If it's who ah think it be, ah feel like ah've gotta 'ave a chat wit' 'er 'bout stuff."


Battle: Calibri chuckles quietly.

"Well. S'pose I'll ask next time, yeah... Oh neat, we countered the same guy. Counter buddies high five?"

He holds up one hand in the stock "letting other person initiate high five" pose towards Chloe, still able to sort of see through the smoke except not brilliantly, then once she either accepts the high-five ("Heh. Yay, high five.") or doesn't ("Aw. Alright then."), he turns to go do fight things. Namely... Calibri moves to I16, strikes M16 with the power of sword beam, and retreats to G16.

"Huh. Sword beam is pretty neat. Might pick that up myself once we're done here... Thanks, Chloe. (It okay if I shorten that to Chlo? Just wanna check.)"

Terry claps at Marron's TED talk- er, fireball demonstration.

And Crya's ice stuff.

---

Terry moves to K7, then basic-attacks Tread1.

RP: Niascape

Venia takes everything in with as little confusion as possible. The 'gorgeous' comment visibly agitates her, but otherwise, she looks downright bored.

Beyond the Mindscape, Venia's continued jolting of notes hits a relentless crescendo.



As soon as she's written everything, which coincidentally somehow lines up with shortly after Her finishes their spiel, Venia interjects-

"No questions. Just statements. But first..."

Venia teleports directly to Her and... Hugs her, halfway kneeling to deliver it properly. It is just heat and warmth, with very little physical force, but it is there.

"... Thank you! Sincerely, thank you, Nia. You're not 'Part of Her' to me, you're just as much Nia as anything else here, and if you have to be 'Part of Her' then you're also where her empathy comes from, so... Thank you for preventing my suicide. I, I think I would've just tried again if it wasn't for you, so, so thank you!" Venia says.

Venia backs off after the hug and resumes speaking from a respectable distance. "... Now for the other things I need to say. First off-I knew this all existed since Sequoia's Lake, and started suspecting it two days ago at the River Crossing. Basically the minute I learned more about you I figured something was up. I didn't even need to read your mind. I knew about all of this from the start, and I swore everything I said and meant knowing that you were not just some silly, sweet, childish young woman. And while I wouldn't want to see that sweetness go away, saccharine behavior only gets someone so far. So, second, I want to see you as a whole get better and not shun yourself, as you want. From experience, though... This may not be very easy. I just, don't know how, but I'll try. Now, excuse me a moment, I need to go fetch someone."

Simultaneously, in the real world, Venia continues the conversation. "Nia has something like Her, and Nia can be Nia despite all of that... Because that whole 'endlessly sunny' persona is, is a mask. A deliberate lie, to herself more than anyone else, to make her look and think like she isn't just, just broken into a billion pieces. It isn't all fake, Nia isn't faking her friendship with you or anyone else and really does mean most of what she says, if anything the only person she's lying to is herself. It's all a coping mechanism. A bad one, and one that caused her to slug you in the face. Now, uh, we don't know why she's doing this exactly, and even if we get the information... I don't have a plan for how we could help her deal with it-"

"Or, rather, one that doesn't involve being a parasite."

"-but I know that we have to be there for her. She's doubting that you're even friends now, I've heard as much out loud once. We need to prove that, well, that... I don't even know how to say it, but it'll be obvious, I think, I hope," Venia says. At the same time, perhaps inexplicably, another clone of her hat appears, hoof on a phone. Somehow. The hoof isn't bending in or anything nor in any way positioned to hold the phone, but the phone is seemingly magnetized to the hoof.

"Chloe, just leave the 'emergency warning' thing to, to, uh..."

"'Hat' will do." Hat says.

"Hat! Yes! Chloe, I just need you to a hand on this ring, it'll take you right in. After that, just follow my lead, if you're ready to... Well, if you're ready to see for yourself what's causing her so much pain."

If Chloe does as instructed (and it works), Chloe should materialize right next to Venia in the Mindscape in Her's Abyss, just somewhat after Venia said to Her that she needed to get someone. "Sup. Chloe, this is Nia, Nia, this is Chloe, we don't have time for questions anymore, I have something to say!

She breathes in, body burning alight in Pulchritude, the exact words she needs to say rolling out of her mouth, which, to keep the post size within reason, is tucked into this spoiler.

---

RP: Magic Club! Magic Club!

Maria watches the demonstration of Marron's magical blood with immense interest and wide eyes, performing an appropriately big 'woah' when Marron launches the fireball. Her eyes track it dutifully to its landing point, until a thing at the corner of her vision catches her attention. She turns and sees the distant figure that is the Husk clinging to the Omega Shielding of Scale Yggdrasil, and gasps.

"That person is climbing the blue wall! I wanna climb the wall!" Maria shouts, pointing at the Husk, rushing towards the shielding and attempting to replicate the Husk, to no effort except a lot of failures to grab a hold of the shield.

"... How's he doin' it? I wanna do it!... Oh, I get it! He's using magic to climb the wall! ... Oh! Oh oh oh oh! HEY, MISTER ON THE WEIRD BLUE WALL!" Maria shouts at the Husk. "HOW ARE YOU DOIN' THAT?! I WANNA KNOW HOW YOU'RE DOIN' THAT SO I CAN DO THAT! WE HAVE A MAGIC CLUB! MAGIC CLUB! A CLUB, WITH MAGIC! JOIN THE MAGIC CLUB, SO YOU CAN TELL ME HOW YOU'RE DOIN' THAT!" She yells, waving her arms. "MAGIC CLUB! MAGIC CLUB!"

The Kitsune, at least, is considerably more intelligent about the threat the Husk poses, and assumes a stance close to Maria, tails raised and pointed out, ready to protect the girl if anything troublesome arises.

---

RP: Verdana

2

Venia exploits space-time uncertainty to remain on the couch at the house through... dubious methods, as Verdana appears. "Oh, really? That's... Well, its nice, but its concerning. I think I can hopefully start to communicatte with it, like, talking to people-I had, uh, sussed out some, err, information on the subject from Maxim's broken mind... Hopefully it won't have an appetite to hang others," Venia says.

"How're things going? Uh... Busy, as ever," Venia says. "Ensuring Nia doesn't fall to the Butterfly, settling things with Cypress, managing our money, more. I think we're not encountering too many hiccups, though," Venia says. "Uh, how're things going on your end?"

4

"Both," Venia responds to Verdana's question of Iti communication. Venia listens on. Her mood remains firmly in the realm of 'exhausted.' "... It would be nice, I suppose? But, uh, aren't we doing that now? Just, hanging out?" Venia asks. "... I... I didn't really thank you for stopping me from doing all those stupid things before, did I? Uh. Uh. Thank you." Venia says. "... I was not in my right mind then..."

Venia pauses a bit. "... When have I been getting angry? I mean, uh, have you been paying attention to that? I've heard I've been getting angry and I know that I have but... I'unno, I never seem to notice for whatever reason. I thought it'd be obvious, I thought I could do that... I'm a bit scared. I'm scared of going nuts all of a sudden and hurting someone, and I don't know why I'm going nuts. But I am."

6

Venia listens to Verdana's talk intently, and ponders what was said. Things outside of her control and 'very bad' things...

...There have been a lot of things 'outside her control,' right? Venia ponders-

"Look, kid... I'm not a fan of what we're doing right now, but money makes people do very strange things, and you've just unveiled powers that make you literally priceless."

"..."

"Its either join us willingly, or we blow up your house with the rest of your family still inside and take you with us by force. Either way, its an executive order-the biggest boss we've got told us to do this directly. We can't disobey."

"..."

"All you have to do is simple. You don't have to do... Anything, like me. You just have to meet us somewhere private-we'll let you know where-and just, put stuff in your little place and take out some of the money for us. You're too young for anything else, I swear that's all you have to do. Just this one thing. Do it willingly, and... Nobody has to die."

"...O... OK."

"... You're a braver girl than you think, Venia."

-yes, yes there have been, and they have been the most terrible moments of her life. Is... Is that why she took him up on the duchy, rather than just bothering with living as a rich citizen? Control. Of course, the choice was a sham, but the point stood quite well, she did choose it.

"...Outside my control... I suppose that's-"

Venia is rather abruptly hugged, or almost-an azure shield pops around Verdana as he tries, blocking him off. Venia seems mildly surprised, though, directly in contact with it, it is now pretty apparent the shield is perfectly refracting that light of Verdana's right off it.

"Verdana what is with that light?" Venia says, breathlessly. "That shield is meant to block cognitohazards, what is with that light?!"

---

Shopping + NPC Services

Venia warps sideways into the realm of noncanon NPC assignments to ask Chloe two favors back-to-back. First, a trip to the Whispering Library for any 'psychic materials' like Zweet Shards/Reverie Fragments or whatnot. Second, an attempt at repairing the Golden Dream Ring so it won't snap on the next use. "That thing is stupidly handy, and I've just thought of a few more people that could use its services..." She also activates the Harvester Golem in Zone 0 to help Chloe.

She then whirls by Nia's to drop off the Resistor for upgrading... And pick up the Stick-Ier, which is done this round. "... This thing has a pretty weird counterattack wired in for whatever reason. Really strange. Really powerful. Really cool," Venia remarks.

Finally, she asks Omorika to start researching Divine Inspiration for the Helix Totem, now that the CAV Booster is done.

---

Battle: Rend Revenge Rampage Reduce tree to cinders... that's what R4 stands for right

Venia sighs at Destiny and Ziah going a bit overboard, and no less on the medics, but oh well.

"Cha-" And Venia's words are stopped by another blurring incident. A few seconds later, she recovers, and just pulls out her revolver, pointing at R4. "...Tear up the treads, wreck the Autocannon targeting Boshi!"

Venia moves up to I10, and demonstrating, she perks an Alternating Weapon Attack (as she used the Ordo Weapon Skill last round) to fire a shot at the 1st Autocannon.

Destiny runs over to K16 and uses Overpowering Slash on Tread 2.
Broken treads ain't no good for ye! Take this!

Meanwhile, Crya claps a bit at Marron's show.
Wow! That was some very nice magic! Blood magic is very interesting, I've seen a lot of great things done with it from Sancrye. Maybe I should get her to talk to you...
But, lemme show what I can do! It’s not as great as it is normally, but I can do some neat tricks!
Crya Arcanis! Ice magic!

Crya suddenly jumps up in the air as ice forms beneath her feet, beginning to skate into the sky. She stops 15 feet in the air to lean back and blast some snow, which forms a snowman. She skates down toward the snowman before forming two icicles, which she throws. One goes right through the snowman’s stomach, and the other beheading the snowman. She finishes her descent and jumps off her ice trail, which sublimates into vapor quickly.

As the Goddess of Ice, I am an expert in performance with using ice to perform tricks. I can do things like these when I need to fight, but I also can do some more refined things with my powers.

Crya cups her hands and raises the top hand up, forming a little ballerina statue. She shows it off before it turns into vapor.

...So that’s all I have, really! Now if Arduos were here he’d have some much more interesting things to show, being both an Upper Pantheon member and the God of Magic, both unlike me. But still, I’m pretty proud of my abilities.

Crya decides to bow a bit before sitting down and waiting for the next person.

Outside the house, Boshi catches a whiff of the Atrocity that EN made. He retches at the scent of ingredients that absolutely should not be in a cake being baked in a cake tin. It almost makes him forget that Sophia was 'glitched out'. Almost.

He walks into the kitchen after he stabilizes himself and gets the guts to walk in. He spots EN.

"(...EN, what the gorilla. What is this. Also, how and why. Nobody should be this bad at cooking. Nobody! Wh... did you even follow a proper recipe? Please for the love of <span style='font-family:Courier'>gorilla tell me ya didn't...)"</span>

Seems like his inner chef is as pissed as his inner father right now.

---

EN responds, and Boshi is more pissed than ever. A flicker of insanity crosses his face.

"(EN. That's not a cake. That's an oversized hockey puck with bladed tentacles for arms.)"

She also lists off the ingredients she used. Some were... alright sure those can go in a cake. Most of them had Boshi thinking 'really, you thought that goes in a cake?'

"(Though I'm relieved you didn't use a recipe, as that'd mean there'd be no hope for you... why. Did common sense just slip your mind and make you, oh, I dunno, like, use the inedible legs of a necromancer spider in a food item!?)"

"(I guess it could be used like a weapon!? But not to eat, god no!)"

EN then notes the cake is meant for someone. "(...Meant for someone? Who in their right mind woul--)"

As EN leaves through the window ('oh goddamn it'), Auth walks into the kitchen. "(Uh, hey. Yo, you might wa--)"

Boshi notices that he's blue in the face. "(Uh... Author?)" He takes out a slice. "(Auth, what are you doing that cake is--)" He moves to take a bite, at which point Boshi attempts to lunge at him. "(NO AUTH DON'T--)"

Too late. He already ate it, and Boshi ends up tackling someone for no reason. With both of them on the floor, with Auth screaming in pain, Boshi gets up. He takes the rest of the cake and locks it away in the Inventory where it belongs.

Now, unfortunately for our indigo dino, he doesn't have any form of traditional healing. After a while of panicked pondering, he force-feeds Auth a green mushroom - it's either a 1-UP or an Ultra Shroom, hard to tell - and waits.

Auth should feel a surge of energy from the Mushroom, and whatever was in that cake somehow disappears from his gullet. Any injuries from the tackle are also healed. It's not as strong as it would be, because Thymefield, but it's still plenty strong. He picks up Auth from the floor.

"(Man, what were you thinking, eating a cake vile enough to send Princess Toadstool into a coma from a thousand galaxies away!? Wh... just why!?)"

"(Also if you were that someone EN was waiting for, I suppose it was a nice gesture. Doesn't really change how awful that cake was though, holy gorilla! You deserve better!)"

---

Unbeknownst to Boshi, Sophia has already checked upstairs and down for people, and has exited the building, headed towards the Endless Gardens...

---

MU decides to just go down and mine the Durasteel already. It's not getting done at this rate. She hops down from the Ladder she's on, and lifts Hex out of the hole he dug himself, displaying a strength similar to that of her rival.

She uses the Razorwind Reaver to mine around the ore, and mines out a small handle-like thing out in the ore itself. After she digs out the earth, she hops out to the top of the small hole, grabs the handle-like thing in both hands, and rips the rest of the ore straight out of the earth, leaving a hole in the ground where the ore was.

Though just to make sure it was all gone, she tosses the pickaxe down the hole and has it explode down there. From there, she makes another fairly long vine rope out of an Iron Ingot (as an attachment/anchor point) and the last 5 Sturdy Vines.

She then continues to generically mine away at the ground beneath her in the hole.

---BATTLE---

The Hat Kid plushie starts to animate itself... looks like it'll be taking the place of Sophia for now.

Nevertheless, Boshi walks straight up to R4. He ends up at (O9). He jams his pickaxe into (O10) and blows it up. This sends him to (O7). He retreats to (P6).

Nidra moves to L12 and pops her special. She then retreats to K11, and activates Pillow Power.

The Man moves to J11 and fires on Autocannon 1.

Auth, similarly to Marron, as a person who can cook worth a damn, shudders in fear. He seems to have a... bad feeling. An ominous feeling. Of impending doom. Auth slinks over to the Kitchen after EN tells him about his "birthday cake"...

Well, celebrating Valentine's Day means a birthday celebration too. So now... Auth is staring face to face with something that by no means should ever have existed... as a gift supposed to be for him. Auth can't say that, but he is visibly afraid of this.

There's not really a choice though. If anyone has to do it, it'll be Auth... and so, he staggers towards the cake, breathing heavily and blue in the face. He's petrified of the thing. With a free piece, he eats a bit...

A mistake, of course. Alone, as far as he knows, he falls face forward into the table, screaming in pain on the floor. He's unable to stand, blood is leaking from just about everywhere possible on his face, he seems to be in a state of immense agony and nausea. Somebody might want to help the poor lad, he's not holding up so well after that. Should somebody doubt how bad the cake is... on a detailed examination, they would find that yes, the damage from the cake really is that bad.

Ideally, after somebody cures the intense brain damage from eating EN's cake, Auth would be able to stand, move, and no longer suffer. He wanders around, pale and wide-eyed. The only way to describe his current demeanour is Traumatised. There's nothing else to call it.

So obviously, the place to be is Magic Club. Auth walks over to where he can see a number of people sitting around. Marron does a neat little fire trick. Auth seems a little awkward as he actually gets close, not sure what's happening. He very clearly missed the memo about Magic Club. He's probably the only one, someone might want to tell him. Alternatively, they could tell him to go away. That's also a perfectly valid response.

--

Auth nods with Nana, leading to a nice Battle Action. Auth takes a deep breath, surrounded by a deep purple aura. He then moves to I15, and casts Curaga on N15. The initial light, holy, healing energy inverts, dropping to the ground and shooting up and ripping at R4. It damages as much of the tank as Auth is going to get at in one turn.

Keiko moves to G11 and casts First Aid on Omorika. She places Cover at H11.

Ziah moves through the suddenly heavy crowd to K4, and fires a stray arrow at the Tread1, hoping to possibly get it stuck in a mechanism.

Toast gives Marron a quick squeeze, before preparing to stand up herself, "You did great, Marron."
She gets to her feet, and quickly plans out what she's gonna say. Then, she says it:
"So, uh, hey guys! Late intro, but welcome to Magic Club! If you somehow still don't know me, I'm Toast... but you probably do, so... yeah. Anyway, I know a fair few disciplines of magic, so I'm gonna go ahead and teach you one- auramancy."

"So... that's all I got, I think."
She does an awkward courtsey with her cloak, then sits back down next to Marron.

~~

Toast moves to J13 and basic attacks HarpoonLauncher2, but not before grinning at Marron. And not before drinking some Delicious and Nutritious Waterdrank Water.
Her first illusion moves to J8, her second moves to J12.

I started laughing at the hilarity of this all.

The Pioneer grins madly, he secretly sabotages the R4-Sat0skr.
Moving to G8 he casted Friendly Fire on Toast against R4-Sat0skr's Thread 1.

I summon Marksmen where the Pioneer previously was.

Settings: Electric Attack
Resist: Piercing/Earth/Fire
Weak: Slashing/Fire

Special: Depleted Magic

==LOGISTICS==
Nezira harvests the plants at the farm, then does some replanting.
At the farm, she replants, all at the max planting:
Manabloom, Manabloom, Manabloom
Coffee Beans, Coffee Beans, Psychoid
Hotpoints, Wheat, Gaiaroot Potatoes

At the Crystillery, she seeds, all at the max of 5 crystals a space:
Seer ||||| Luminous
Ashen ||||| Crystal Pens
Seer ||||| Shadow

==RP/MAGIC CLUB==
Nezira smiles back at Chloe after she asks her to present. "Sure! I think I'll try and make it more memorable than just talking this time, too, so make sure to watch!"

Nezira stands up. "Hello, everyone! Just in case somebody here hasn't met me before, I'm Nezira the Archivist, or just Nezira. I know a lot of different systems of magic, so I can probably teach you just about anything, but right now I'm just going to demonstrate my 'home' magic system, the one I grew up with, without any of the tweaks I've grafted onto it as time's gone by."



She walks back over to Chloe. "So, how'd I do? Interesting enough?"

She pauses for a second, before looking over at Chloe again. "By the way, given I'm going to be teaching you magic, and probably a lot of it's going to be my magic, I've been thinking of making you a wand? It should help with focusing and channeling your magic when you're working in my system, and I've guessed you'd probably also think it's pretty cool to have a wand? The materials we have on hand means I can make one that's a pretty good quality for you, too. (Okay, where I say 'good quality', I mean 'probably even a really experienced and discerning mage on my home world would love it'.)"

==BATTLE==
Nezira, moving after Pope, tosses a Proximity Burst onto R4's Barrel Tip, hitting all its connected parts, and then retreats to E13, or E12 if E13 is occupied.

-Battle: The Only One Right Now-

((For planning purposes, this action happens before Venia's!))

Irongutta moves to E9 and casts a self-casting Fury, targeting Venia and himself.

Pope Bill casts Last Dream on Harpoon1 once again!

// Note: Sorry for formatting glitches, they suck

=====[Magic Club]=====
Brutishace steps up to Yggdrasil to take part in the Magic Club proceedings, noting Toast’s artificial arms as he does so. When did she get those? Are they new? He curses himself for not recognizing them sooner! No matter- he waits for his turn to present, applauding Marron’s demonstration. The necromancer then steps forward and asks for the attention of the assorted attendees.

IAWA: Hello, I hope I’m not too late- I also hope you all don’t mind if I demonstrate my particular course of casting?

Upon obtaining the approval of the assembly, Brutishace clears some space, preparing himself five wooden dummies, a magic staff topped with a blue crystal exuding some sort of frosty mist, and some cups of Soulblossom Tea.

IAWA: Hello, everyone. You may wonder why I have a staff with me today, as well as these dummies.
IAWA: I feel like using these, as well as my normal equipment, will help effectively demonstrate how my magic works.
IAWA: So, how does my magic work?
IAWA: The easiest way to cast magic is to acquire a magic item- I’ll be referring to them as Artifacts for brevity.
IAWA: An example- this Comet Staff.

Iawa grabs the mist-covered Comet Staff.

IAWA: To use them, all it takes is your willpower, and a little gesture!

Iawa flicks the Comet Staff towards the first training dummy, launching a frosty-cold magic missile at it and forming a frigid crater in its center.

IAWA: This particular artifact is inclined to perform this particular task using magic- casting icy missiles.
IAWA: How so? The effect lies in the artifact itself, or its most magically inclined part- in this case, the crystal at the staff’s top.
IAWA: Defying this rigid system takes quite the mental toll, as the artifact is doing something it shouldn’t do.
IAWA: To prove my point, observe as I try to summon a beam of water with this Comet Staff.

Brutishace concentrates hard, visibly straining himself, and points the staff at the second training dummy. A jet of water generates from the Comet Staff’s crystal, pushing the second wooden dummy to the floor. Once the target is dislodged, Brutishace stops summoning the stream of water, gasping for breath. He empties a cup of Soulblossom Tea to replenish himself, then sighs in relief.

IAWA: As you witnessed, casting that water spell cost me quite a lot more effort than the ice missile I previously casted.
IAWA: This is because I am trying to use the artifact for something it was not meant to do.
IAWA: Artifacts are a lot like tools in that regard-great for what they are designed for, passable at best for what they are not.
IAWA: I probably couldn’t muster up the energy to try casting a fire spell with this thing.
IAWA: However, like tools, some artifacts can be multipurpose, as you no doubt have seen with my artifact of choice.
IAWA: To demonstrate, I have someone here to help- I need no volunteers.

Brutishace opens up a portal to his world, out of which comes a mysterious, buxom wizardess in a turquoise dress. She waves energetically to the rest of the Magic Club members.

IAWA: Please welcome Odaru, my daughter.
ODARU: Adopted daughter! ♪
IAWA: Ahem, yes… Odaru, could you throw that training dummy into the air?
ODARU: Where?... Oh, sure.

Odaru strolls over to the other side of the area working as Iawa’s “stage”, then gracefully throws the third training dummy skyward, so that it would land beside her adoptive father. As she throws the dummy, Iawa draws his Ruiner pistol, aiming it in the path of the airborne wooden dummy. He fires a large crimson magic needle at the dummy in flight, which hits its mark. The airborne dummy stops in its path and drops to the ground.

Iawa then points his aim towards the third dummy’s new position and fires a different sort of shot- this magic missile is a deep and violent red, and leaves behind a longer tail than the first. The missile tears a path through the target’’s torso, leaving a gaping, burning hole in its wake.

ODARU: Woah, how’d you get that?
IAWA: I happened to craft it myself. I could bring some back to the tower if I ever escape from here.
IAWA: I might even give you your own.
ODARU: Oh, that’d be wonderful!
IAWA: Unfortunately, it would probably have to wait. I’m not sure when I can leave this place, or these people.
IAWA: Speaking of which...

Iawa then turns his attention to his audience and speaks.

IAWA: Now that you have witnessed the use of artifacts, you might be asking, is it possible to cast magic without an artifact?
IAWA: While artifacts are worth seeking out, yes.
IAWA: I’ve trained Odaru in use in my form of magic. She will help me demonstrate an instance of unarmed magic, in contrast to the use of artifacts I have used prior.

Odaru snaps her fingers and breathes in deep, and a blue aura envelops her nimble fingers.

IAWA: Unarmed magic is considerably more tiring than conventional artifact-based magic.
IAWA: However, it is significantly more freeform, allowing for greater versatility when compared to the use of artifacts.
IAWA: Odaru, could you demonstrate what unarmed magic can do?
ODARU: Sure thing! ♪

Odaru swiftly breathes out and launches a swift, thin, nearly imperceptible bolt of magic from her fingers at the fourth training dummy, imparting a surprising amount of force on the dummy and knocking it over. The bolt appears to deal no structural damage, however.

Odaru then blinks and breathes in deeply- when she opens her eyes again, a new, lime green aura envelops her fingers. She makes a gesture as if trying to grab something, and the same aura surrounds the fourth dummy. Odaru, without laying a finger on it, lifts the dummy from the ground and sets it upright- then the aura fades away, and the sorceress starts to breathe heavily- visibly exhausted from this stunt.

IAWA: However, more often than not, using magic items is far worth the trouble of finding them.

Odaru nods at her adoptive father, then hastily downs a Soulblossom Tea. Upon finishing the drink, she produces a bluish clear orb which levitates into the air from her palm. She gestures at the upright fourth dummy. A red haze materializes around it, which implodes, leaving the figure unnervingly gray and static. Its shadow even lightens.

IAWA: Now, observe.

Iawa once again produces his Ruiner Pistol, aims through the fourth dummy, and fires. The flaming missile the artifact produces phases right through the fourth wooden dummy, striking the fifth straight in its torso. The damage on the fifth target is the same as that on the third, while the fourth remains unharmed, even after regaining its hue.

Iawa and Odaru each take a short bow after putting away their artifacts.

IAWA: And there we have it. Now you should have a grasp on how I cast magic.
IAWA: Thank you all for your patience!
ODARU: I’ll be heading back to the tower- if you guys want me back, please let my dad know!
ODARU: Maybe you guys should meet more of my relatives.

Odaru clutches a pendant hanging about her chest and warps away.

Brutishace then steps down and awaits for someone else to volunteer. The Comet Staff and the fourth training dummy remain uncollected. Perhaps Brutishace is leaving them out in case anyone wants to try the staff out themselves?

=====[The Far Off Field]=====

Brutishace moves to I16, downs an in-game Soulblossom Tea, and uses Twin Jolts on the second Autocannon. He does not want that weapon going off anytime soon! Especially since space is somewhat limited.

Move to K15, Attack Tread 2?