Interestingly, Hannah seemed to enjoy seeing her foes suffer a slow, painful death as well. This opens up so many possibilities for... well, for a lot of things. Some a bit less "friendly". "Cruel. I like it!"

"Anyway, nice to meetcha, Yew. Let's kill 'em. I'll ask questions later."
She pulls out a Time Piece, holding it in one hand, and points at the Aello's wing as she holds the bow in the other. The one approaching her and still unpoisoned. Yew probably fires an arrow at it. A brief pulse from the time piece. When the arrow inevitably strikes true, something truly magical happens.

They begin bleeding out like hell, on top of literally melting from poison.
"Hehe, perfect shot! A little bit of blood thinning does wonders, don'cha think? The way their innards spill out is just so... gratifying."
"Looks like it works well with the acid, too."

Seems like they're gonna get along juuuust fine.
Something tells you she's not gonna stop after just this one round...
(note: the copypaste bug is still in effect at the time of posting. be careful when copypasting stuff.)

---

Dorothy, meanwhile, concludes that, yeah, she wasn't fit for this. She'd rather be performing for a crowd, not killing said crowd as she performs for them. Or just killing, as she seems to have been doing too much of that lately for her liking...

So she makes her way out of the Rosen Catacombs. But not before stepping into the Band Barracks with a few Mirror Images and a few instruments for a little performance.

After that finishes, she gets out of the catacvombs, through the northernmost passageway to avoid any danger, heading back to the house.

---

Naval combat!
Boshi fires another shot from the launcher. He's probably gonna continue firing that thing until it's too small to be worth it. He's using the same combo as last time while strafing around.

As this is going on, though...

With her first acts complete, Hoshi then breaks into a sprint, grabbing Omorika by her wrist.

"Come on, the left wall's been busted! We can't really stay here, now can we?"

Using her irrefutable logic, Hoshi moves into M10, and Omorika finds her body tossed at M11, and uses the Warp Ring to chain dodgeroll into P10.

Crya slides to K10 and uses Confuse Ray on Harlequin 2. She also slides her Hailstorm down a tile.

Act first
Move to I11
Terraform
Power Wells (J11, E13, L9, I10)

"Come on now, let's get a move on!"

Summa doesn't waste any time this time, being the first one to act. She reaches into the group's inventory with purpose, bringing out an Ender Glyph. The poor regal Moly doesn't know how to use it, but she certainly tries her best to make it function! She holds here for a moment, waiting for Verdana to move before continuing.

One Verdana later...

Tsar'ina moves over to R8, using Quickfire Phial on the nearby Linseed, reseting her Enchant:Element to a more suitable type (it's Ice). After this, Tsar'ina uses her Special on the Linseed.

"TAKE THIS!"

Battle: The Chapel

Irongutta, caught between two enemies, uses a Warp Ring to zoosh on over to M11? Why M11? So he can build up speed for 12 hours.

That is to say, from M11 he then moves to J11 and, with Unstoppable Force activated, chops up Harlequin2. Then to make sure it's extra dead, he targets it with the Turbo Magezappa Lens.

change change change change change change change change change

In a private pocket of semi-canonicity, Chara whips out their character sheet and a pen.

CHARA: Ich mache 'ne Eingabe.

• -2 RES
• +2 SPC
• +8 DEF
• headgear changed to Discordance Headband
• Mirror Image switched to Riposte

---

Meanwhile, I remember this happened.

QUOTE (Dedomeni @ Mar 11 2020, 11:49 PM)

As Fran is dragged back into the house, a slender, androgynous figure gazes down at her with eyes that gleam in all the colors of the rainbow, the rest of their face masked by a crystalline hand. Fran's visitor offers a (real) hand to help her up. THE REFLECTOR: well well well what do we have here? THE REFLECTOR: i was watching your fight your duel your rooftop skirmish and i must say i've been intent on meeting you on making your acquaintance. THE REFLECTOR: well i've been looking for a face a reflection to be to wear and i think you know where this is going. THE REFLECTOR: after all, you know exactly who i am don't you fran?

Struggling to look the damn thing in its bright foken vaporwave eyes, I accept the hand, dragging myself back onto my feet. Then I remember who the one talking to me actually is.

FRAN: Ooohohoho, of course I do, sweetie.
FRAN: You're Serpent's new toy, aren't you? Good old Serpent. Arguably the best person out of us here...
FRAN: But I also know who you are on the non-obnoxious level. Without spoiling anything, something something Conductor something something Scion's entry was just released something something fuck the system?
FRAN: look I'm trying my best to be vague don't judge me

Procuring a small hand mirror, I try my best to fix up my hair from all that fighting, before turning back to look the Reflector in the... in what's visible of their face.

FRAN: So, you want to go Annihilation on me and take on my identity?
FRAN: I don't mind. I'm actually interested to see how well you manage to pull it off.
FRAN: Pro tip: if conversation goes silent or recurring existential dread kicks in, make weird demonic noises or do something random like jump in place and let out a yip. It won't drive the latter away, and it will just make you look weird, but it is accurate to character just like you better be.
FRAN: Also, if in a few seconds you try mimicking my movements while cornering me, I will make you into stew and serve it to Maria.

---

Now, how about I be the star?~

In his far-off corner of the post, Joseph observes the effects of his experiment. The bodily sickness has been noted, but is otherwise easy enough to ignore. But the whispering, now that is something interesting. The scientist that he is, he already comes up with a theory: what if fluxblood works like the rings of power from Tolkien's universe? A device that establishes direct mental contact with its origin while inflicting immense pain on its subject, until it gives in and becomes part of a pseudo-hivemind of sorts. If this were true, and the whispers he is hearing are the Butterfly's, that would mean several things.

First, that most of its physiology is the fluxblood itself. As a lot of it must've been given away to convert its devouts and beasts to what they are now, this implies that either the Butterfly used to be much larger before it split itself for embedding, or that its body is self-replenishing. Fascinating thought, for a creature of destruction to be able to create anything.

Second, the creature is sometimes said to be entirely of entropic energy and curses. Not even Curses, just curses. The hypothesis that it is entirely of fluxblood does not necessarily disprove this: what if the blood contained it within itself, and could potentially be used in a makeshift generator to produce entropic energy for the Spherebreakers' use? That would be incredibly nifty, now.

Third, unless the theory is plain wrong or the Butterfly decided to get a makeover, its weaknesses could be predicted in advance. Joseph was planning to immediately take a stab at that. In the metaphorical way, of course. Stabbing blood does nothing but make you look like an idiot. Ask Singra. Or don't, she might not even exist.

Grabbing another vial of fluxblood, he suspends it above five searing clusters. He then reaches into one of his many pockets, stopping to pray that the GM does not call bullshit on his preparedness, before pulling out an electronic thermometer and setting it next to the clusters, monitoring their temperature to see what fluxblood's boiling point is. All the while, he pays attention to what the whispers might be saying.

---

More Chara now?

No
Chara is a sappy enragement child and I refuse to write them this early in the morning.

Laranei moves to O4, then shoots at the Eviscerator! If it dies with the first shot, she fires the second one at the medic. If it doesn't die in one shot, the second shot will be aimed at the Eviscerator too. If it's still not dead yet by then, she also uses an Elec-Knife on it.

Auth nods to Omo's response.

AUTH: Ah, I see. That's okay, Omo, I understand. We'll see you later, then!
AUTH: It should be interesting to see what's there, then, Nana...

Auth emerges first from the Projection Box, helping Nana out afterwards. He then looks... at all of the nothing. Or, well, the fight pit they're trapped in. Auth can smell the food, but has something much more notable on his mind.

AUTH: Well. I don't suppose you're going to just let us out of here, are you?

Auth reaches down to his hip, to prepare to draw his sword. He moves to get between the Executioner and Nana. He moves his other arm to continue to protect her.

AUTH: Nana, get behind me. If you remember how to get back here, then you can probably wait in the projection box, but I don't know where they go so...

Auth's eyes focus on the Executioner, and waits for him to start fighting. The second he does, Auth draws Inkscalibur and slams it into the Executioner's chest. It appears to be blunt, so it wouldn't do much more than rattle the executioner. Auth moves again to sweep their leg, which should put them on one knee, which Auth follows up with a knee to the head. Such damage should successfully knock out the Executioner, although Nana might help follow up on the (at least Stunned) Executioner.

Auth is very sure to make certain that he doesn't accidentally kill the Executioner.

<ROUND TWO-HUNDRED SEVENTEEN>

Echoss does some crafting! He takes 2 Mounted Machine Guns, 13 Plasteel Ingots, 20 (10) Wire Scraps, 12 (2) Circuit Boards, 3 CPU's, a Cloud Cannon, 2 Squall Clusters, 5 Titanium Ingots, and 20 Gunpowder. These are thrown together into a heavy turret, with blowback capabilities! Echoss also quickly goes off to grab 60 Gunpowder, 20 of which is used above.

In addition, Pionobot decides to brace and prepare for the Amphi to come through. Maybe we'll process this bit of the post later? In fact, I think we'll be processing the rest of his post later.

---

Toast continues to lounge with Marron. She gives her a quick peck on the forehead, before noting that she needs to think of a cute nickname for her.

MARRON: I'm lucky I don't need to do that- I'm pretty sure my name's hard to work with!
MARRON: You're pretty good at... stuff, though. I'm sure you'll think of something.

Then, as she stands up, the sorceress remarks about how energized she feels. Marron hops up off the couch, joining her.

MARRON: Hm, Toaster!
MARRON: We could... go to the catacombs together!
MARRON: There's bound to be something you can test your mettle against there.
MARRON: I'll help out, of course! Maybe we could have another contest...?

MARRON: ...Or if you felt like it, we could spar a bit.
MARRON: Now that we both have organic arms, it'd be a fair match!
MARRON: T-Then again, maybe that should be something we save for after we kill whatever it is we're killing at the catacombs.
MARRON: Can't have our star sorceress out for the count right before the big battle~

Maybe Chloe was right: the catacombs really are romantic for some people.

---

Venia continues to explore Bass's Mindscape. She holds the Bass Plushie tight to her chest. Bap! Something smacks her chest ever so gently. It seems the Bass Plushie's poking her. She thinks she can hear it speaking.

BASS PLUSHIE: that thingy isn't him
BASS PLUSHIE: the real cool dude
BASS PLUSHIE: is further in

...Seems like it also isn't too happy with being held up against her chest. Maybe let it hitch a ride instead? Or maybe it's too dangerous. Elsewhere, Venia's Hat does some shopping! 3 Triangle Coupons are used to obtain the Catalyst of Hearts, Blades, and Stars! These are given to Taeda, Bass, and R-8733 respectively. Mari is also told to go whack Chloe's Laser Machine Gun with a wrench... so she does. This repairs it to full.

MARI: Y'know, for someone's first time working with magical materials, this is actually a pretty good weapon...
MARI: I mean, in the grand scheme of things, I could make this like, five times better, but... it's kinda charming, in a way?
MARI: Chloe did good.

Then, The Sleuth is told to go grab a distress beacon.

THE SLEUTH: The Sleuth ponders this for a moment.
THE SLEUTH: The operation would be too risky. While he was certainly skilled at sleuthing out a problem, robbery was not his forte.
THE SLEUTH: In addition, the triangle who had the beacons had an iron grip on his stock. It would be impossible to do for someone like him.
THE SLEUTH: He shakes his head. "I'm afraid that's not something I can obtain."
THE SLEUTH: To make a point, he holds out all ten of his fingers. "You'd need a thief at least 1,023 times better than me in order to rob him."
THE SLEUTH: Was there someone like that in the party? He had to wonder...

Elsewhere, Mr. Krabs teaches a coffee statue that time betrays, unleashing Dawn of Existence onto it. A powerful telekinetic force blows the statue to bits, before going to town on the little fragments left behind. Soon, the statue is reduced to nothingness. The cultist in the room doesn't seem to mind its destruction, slowly calming down. Or they try to. It's something.

Also, Venia modifies her special so she can't walk into a room and instantly kill everyone. That was a bit of a problem.

---

EN and Taeda share a moment together. The android informs the priestess that she's not actually related to the two robotic brothers. Taeda nods.

TAEDA: R-Really?
TAEDA: You all seem really close, though.
TAEDA: I guess you don't need to be family to share a bond with someone.
TAEDA: While I may not strictly be Helix's descendant, I feel as if they are family to me.
TAEDA: M-Maybe t-that's not an apt analogy, though?

EN then tells Taeda that she's from an alternate timeline, and that she's the 13th EN in the 900 series.

TAEDA: Whoa! There's 913 of you?
TAEDA: Or maybe even more!
TAEDA: Are you all like... a family? Sisters?
TAEDA: And... what do you mean an alternate timeline? I-Isn't there only... one?

The Church of Helix does not provide courses on time-space.

---

JOE continues to do farm work. He plops a bundle of 9 Yggherbs into the freed soil. He then tries to terraform-sweep a tile, and this... succeeds in freeing up another tile of soil.

He also takes a Lumilure, and tapes 5 Refined Wood, 12 (2) Green Sap Blobs, 1 Red Sap Blob, 1 Blue Sap Blob, 10 Shredded Fish Chunks, 4 Greatwood, and 4 Manabloom Seeds. This actually... upgrades both Lumilures into Lumilure Traps! Great success! Now, how to use these? For personal, farm-based use, the game also gives JOE permission to place one down without expending one from the inventory.

---

Ziah continues to rest up, chatting with both Chloe and Ette. He notes that he doesn't really know what the Sphere is.

CHLOE: Oh, the Sphere.
CHLOE: It's a gigantic wooden orb... or sphere, that's actually only a few miles away from here, floating in the sky.
CHLOE: It constantly spawns these scary creatures called "Iti", and in a matter of days, it's going to explode.
CHLOE: When this happens, roughly one-third of the universe will go with it.
CHLOE: It's a... problem, to say the least.
ETTE: We're collecting these thingies called "Glyphs" so that we can access the Sphere!
ETTE: I think that's how they work, anyway!
ETTE: We have three of them so far.

Ziah then notes that if at all possible, he'd like to help them fight the Sphere. Chloe nods, clapping her hands.

CHLOE: I had a feeling you'd say that!
CHLOE: Mostly because everyone who's arrived at this house has decided to help.
CHLOE: O-Or at least, everyone who hasn't tried to kill us...
ETTE: We'd love to have you!
ETTE: I don't really know what you're good at, but I'm sure you'll make it work!
ETTE: Of course, you should get a bit more rest first.
ETTE: Doctor's orders!
CHLOE: She's right.
CHLOE: Don't push yourself, alright?

CHLOE: Anyway, I have things I should attend to.
CHLOE: Ette, mind watching over him?
ETTE: Of course! I was gonna do that, anyway.
ETTE: Bye bye!

Chloe prepares her gear, and then sets off back to the Catacombs. Probably to go and die. Unfortunate, but that's how it is!

---

Mustache Girl prepares to kill some Iti! She strikes the approaching Aello with an arrow, causing to both rapidly decay and spew its Thyme Matter everywhere in high-pressure streams. Yew cackles with laughter as the creature wilts on the ground, dying.

YEW: You. I like you.
YEW: You seem to have an appreciation for these little things that make life worth while.

Swiftly, more Iti pour out of the cave, replacing those who have fallen. Fortunately, both the Engie Drone and Pionobot are there to help! The Engie Drone pops an approaching Harpy with a railgun, painting it across the walls. He also scans an Aello.

>Codex Updated!

From there, the drone jumps off the island and loots a vein of Gravcore Ore- 14 units worth! He then uses it to float back up to the island he was on before... but nausea deals (8) damage to him. The Edges down below adds an additional (6). Back on the island, Pionobot uses the Cyclone Regalia to blow away the Amphi as it bursts through! This is partially successful, slamming each segment of the beast for (15) damage. This adds up to (75) damage total. While nearly downed, the Amphi manages to push into attack range! Looks like that big pulse of air was at least enough to stagger it, though! Now's your chance to finish it off!

Elsewhere, Dorothy decides to copy-paste herself for a performance within the Band Barracks! She begins playing a song for the cultist, who... seems impressed, but not all that impressed.

CULTIST: i mean
CULTIST: that's impressive
CULTIST: but it's not as good as four individuals with the same passion for music coming together and blowing someone's socks off
CULTIST: y'know?

...No payment. Darn. Then, in the lake not too far off from the center of Zone 1, Boshi keeps on blasting and strafing the Shardnado, killing another 3 Shuria. However, repeating these same movements from last round makes him predictable, and the Shardnado suddenly charges the boat! It passes through, slicing it (and Boshi) up rather badly! (20) damage to the boat, and (10) damage to Mustache Girl for the next battle! The whirling storm re-emerges closer to the river than Boshi's ship, cutting his exit off. It's certainly a smaller storm than before, though.

Also, Mustache Girl joins the fray! Or "Hannah". Respec successfully applied!

---

Chara re-arranges her stats! +8 DEF, +2 SPC, -2 RES. Discordance Headband and Riposte equipped! In addition, Joseph decides that the best idea after drinking a vial of Fluxblood, is to immediately start experimenting with fluxblood! He tries to determine the boiling point of Fluxblood, suspending it above 5 Searing Clusters. It doesn't take too much effort to boil: it's only roughly 15 degrees celcius above water's boiling point. What's curious however, is how fast it converts to a glass- the entire vial vanishes within just a few seconds once it begins to boil, a hazy red cloud forming on the ceiling. 1 vial of Fluxblood lost. The Searing Clusters are untouched.

All the while, he tries to listen to the voices in his head. They're... indistinct. Perhaps if he drank a few more vials, he'd become more attuned to them? Of course, that's incredibly dangerous, but science!

---

Auth duels an Eviscerator! He tells Nana to try and run through the Projection Box, but she shakes her head.

NANA: I-I don't!
NANA: I-I'll... s-stay behind you!

The Executioner suddenly springs forward as Auth unsheathes his weapon. Their weapons clash, before Auth manages to slam Inkscalibur into his foe's chest! Before the chairian can regain their footing, Auth sweeps the leg, causing them to fall in the forest, very definitely making a sound. Before Auth can pound the target while they're down, the Executioner swings their axe across the ground, the handle hitting Auth's leg. He too, tumbles over. As the Executioner gets up, Nana promptly plants a dart right between his eyes. This isn't enough to down them, but a quick slash from Nana is. The Executioner collapses.

NANA: W-Whew!
NANA: W-We got him! We make a good team!

Despite not having really done much, Nana's breathing is heavy and frantic. Anyway, now they'll need to get out of the pit if they plant to keep exploring. Up past the guy on the upper level, who's applauding their performance.

---

Elsewhere, in the basement of the house, a certain blonde is going through a bit of turmoil...

---

<THE CHAPEL, ROUND SEVEN>
The Harlequin has been devestated! Great work! Now that you're free here, maybe wait for the Duneyrr Hold to finish, so that you can go raid the boss arena? Maybe now would be a good time to make preparations: items, siege machines, explosives... things like that!

<DUNEYRR HOLD, ROUND FOUR>
So, that position where you're all clustering is about to be blown to heck by a whole lot of missiles. Get out of there if you can, or expect many injuries! Maybe you could push north to go and clobber Linseed? Who knows.

"Beating up insane cultists sounds like a cute date idea~
...
I can definitely beat up more though."
Toast giggles tauntingly, before heading upstairs. Maybe Marron joins her, or maybe not. She changes from her comfy clothes into something more battle appropriate- not neglecting her signature scarf. The brilliant starry pattern gives her an even more magical look than usual. She picks up the twin needles of the Threads of Fate, before heading downstairs.

In other words: Asha gears up!

~~

Toast looks quite excited when Echoss asks about her arm. She flexes her fingers proudly.
"Isn't it great? It feels weird as hell suddenly having muscles that had been gone for years, but I'm really loving it. I can actually feel things now!"
To demonstrate, she playfully pokes Marron.

~~

Meanwhile, in the future, in the present, Toast goes further down into the Everground. She joins Mustache Girl on the island.

In the house, instead of crafting anything, Echoss comes out of the basement from his chat with Chloe, and consumes roughly 30 manabloom seeds. While not as potent as the fully grown manabloom, that should still be enough mana for what he's about to do.

Echoss holds up his hand and blows on it, sending a spray of butterflies outwards. They quickly flutter out of the house, and into the woods surrounding it. Butterfly sentries have been stationed, they do literally nothing in a fight but will act as an early warning system should anyone or anything try and approach the house.


He also idly wander into the main living room and catches sight of Marron and Toast getting ready to leave, and realizes that Toast's arm is real now!
"Hello Miss Toast, Miss Needleworker.
Toast, I see you got around to giving yourself a new arm, how is it?
Marron, how's the new mechanical arm treating you?"


Pionobot charges the Amphi, dashing around its laser if it fires it at him, and leaps up at it. A large blade of wind materializes out of his arm, and he begins cleaving his way down the Amphi's back... at which point the thymefield decides he's being a little overambitious and once again shuts down some of his interior circuits.
This causes a catststrophic meltdown inside his arm., and Pionobot explodes, violently, losing 10 health but also causing the Amphi to take point-blank explosion damage.

Ok, wow, that went horribly. Hilariously, but horribly. Let's never speak of this again.
I buy the Flame Emblem with a coupon.
Respec:
5 HP
14 STR/INT/RES/SPC
+2 MOV

Armor: Withered Shroud
Trinkets: Flame Emblem, Deck of Spells (Electric/Psychic)
Spells: Bag of Tricks, Shopping Spree, Salvation, Relinquish Will.

Battle: Duneyrr "Hold"



Venia catches word of Vedfolnir's dialouge... Hasn't she heard someone else speak like that before? She has, once.

Venia moves to P12, and tactically waits for Linseed to appear at Q11. Venia then gestures to Summa, who (by permission from Specta) uses Skeletal Toss to tactically drag Linseed to Q11.

Venia then uses Affidavit Adjudication for 140 MP (as in this fight the cost hasn't changed) to apply Armorbreak5 to Linseed, negating one of his more powerful defensive assets. She then burns all five of her Heart Stacks to re-gain Ordo, fires an Ice-elemental blaster at Linseed, and strikes Linseed dead on with her basic attack. Venia then tosses Summa the Elemental Blaster, who then proceeds to shoot Linseed with it as well.

"Can't run! Can't hide! Can't stop us! Did you think we didn't notice your transmitter? Better yet-do you think we really care? We're happy to take you all on to prove it!" Venia shouts. "Of course, that just means that's one more wannabe rebellion to send packing for me!"

---

Basscaper

Venia looks at the Bass Plushie, and calmly sticks him in one of her jacket pockets. She grips the calm mind shard tight with both hands and uses it to phase clean through the door, rather than risk opening it up. For now. Assuming nothing happens for crossing the threshold, she ventures inwards.

---

Rosen Catacombs

Mr. Krabs considers his investigations of the Normal Barracks complete, and instead opts to head to the door immediately opposite the Normal Barracks. And learns that its blocked. And that is ABSOLUTE SACRILIGE. UNACCEPTABLE. NOT IN MY CHRISTIAN THYMIUM ROLEPLAYING GAME. Mr. Krab's mouth turns into a blender as he... Right. He just Terraforms the terrain around the door away, taking some care to recognize the architechtural dangers of having his personal gravity be incorrectly aligned to 'real' gravity. This creates a hole larger than the door, causing it to obey physics and fall over flat on the ground. Mr. Krab then takes this door and ventures into the blocked room, assuming that the blockage was comprised only by the door.

Why he turned his head into a blender is still a mystery.

---

Other things?

-tbd-

Hannah +1s her HP, and replaces Exertion with Cleave.

She then smirks at Yew's remark. "Oh you're gonna love the story of that one time I stuffed the remains of my most hated enemy in a jar, minutes after they died! That has got to be the most satisfying thing I've ever done~"
"So glad to be rid of that oaf forever..."

She pinpoints a particularly weak segment on the Amphii, and points towards it, intending to allow Yew to shoot at it. The anticoagulant's materials seem to be easy to come by, given she's rather liberally applying them to the arrows Yew fires out.

"Oh yeah, this mixture isn't the only thing I can apply to stuff! I also got a real nasty mix that causes rapid necrosis; there's some deadly ingredients on this planet, huh?"
"Rare, though... I only save the necro mix for... special occasions. You'll know when~"

---

"(Agh, ye gorilla!)"
With the Shardnado down to its final legs, Boshi whips out an Edge of Dawn (Electric), and charges it, watching for the Shuria's movements, to try and anticipate another charge if it comes. Conditioning!
He then lets a giant laser rip out towards the last of the Shardnado, and fires a Railgun round at it for good measure, in case a Shuria somehow manages to live through the laser.

---

While she didn't get anything out of it, it seems like Dorothy was happy to have performed admirably.

Once back at home, she goes to see what Sophia's doing. She's at the workstation at the Basement, doodling up some designs for what looks like a robot that looks as though it's a cross between the looks of a Rumbi and the form of Sophia herself. A mecha, perhaps?

Though it seems she's hung up on the more... artistic details. As Dorothy hops up to meet her (plushie on the workstation), she begins giving a few artistic pointers to make it look real flashy. And fix up some minor flaws. As she finishes up the design, Sophia decides to have a little chat with her buddy.

"So, how was fightin'?"
"I-I... didn't really like it. I don't think I d-did much, either..."
"Aww, don't worry 'bout it!~ That stuff's not everyone's strongest point, it just means you gotta look somewhere else!"
"I don't... I don't know i-if I would be all that helpful around here... I can do some magic... dance... music... painting... t-that's about it?"
"But you've got such an eye for artistic detail, Dorothy! I suck at these creative things, seriously! I wouldn't have caught that lil' screwup in the coat's design otherwise."
"I... guess-"
"And whether you like it or not, you can keep peoples' spirits up, just by bein' here! ...I mean, I guess all of us kids do that, but you especially!"
"B-but-"
"Dance and play music to your heart's content, I'm positive people will love it."
"I'll... do that l-later. After a-a break."
"There ya go! ...Oh yeah, I heard from Hannah. After she gets outta that mineshaft, she's gonna take your place out there."
"O-oh, that's nice of her!"

"...S-so, how have you been?"
"...Lonely... you've been the first one to talk to me all day. Everyone else is just so... busy with something or other."
"O-oh... well, I'm happy to b-be around if you need someone t-to... um... sit with you."
"Thanks, that... means a lot, y'know?"
"How's the... y-y'know, the 'curse' been treating you?"
"I'm used to it. It's gonna be so weird going back to normal after this... if I go back to normal after this..."
"W-well... we've both seen everyone fight, and do other things... s-so I think you'll be back t-to normal before we leave. ...A-at least, I think we're gonna be leaving?"
"We're prolly gonna be leavin'. Not a whole lot to do around here. At least, for us kids."
"I-I guess that's true..."

They continue chatting about other unimportant things, like what Sophia's been doing to keep herself busy, and the few fights that Dorothy did partake in; notably her first, where she essentially split in half against her will, which ultimately ended up inspiring her. Even some more wholesome things, like teasing each other and pointing out some dirt on their clothing. They continue for a long while...

JOE looks at his successes over the last round and does a little dance! that went great! He quickly places the Farm-use Lumilure Trap directly between the two ECsentrys, then- after some thought- plants manabloom seeds in the newly-opened farm slot.
Then, he moves on to making use of something he figured out last round: Lumipods are apparently beneficial for illusions! There are only 7 in the inventory, and 8 traps in the farm, so he can't improve all of them... But that's fine. If the assumed future attackers do spot the difference, they'll probably conclude one of the types is real and the other is fake, when really Both will be fake! a textbook shell game. Restraining himself to only 3 Lumipods, he picks the BI59, BG51, and BL56 traps to work on. First, he makes a temporary modification to their Illusions so he can see what he's working with... which is to say, he sees a tiny Manabloom, some mush, and a mana-construct. Right. Well, that's fine. Along with the Lumipods, he takes 3 spider silk spools. Seeing as spider silk spools are probably sticky, he switches out the Encourage spell he Presumably has but which he hasn't used since rejoining, for the Guiding Hand spell, to serve as a structured form of mild telekinesis; through this he carefully arranges strands of spider silk onto the ground around the small manabloom, creating concentric circles and pathways for the magic to focus through. then, carefully, so as not to disturb the flower or the silk, he places a lumipod to the side, still inside the concentric circles but off-centre, and makes a series of smaller circles around the lumipod, overlapping the first set, and silk draping over the pod to connect it into the magical construct. When it's all arranged, he infuses additional mana into the arrangement so he can rework the trap to draw on the Lumipod's illusionary powers, making their illusions all the better for it.
(SUMMARY: manablooms in new farm slot, Lumilure Trap at BK 55, and an attempt to upgrade the BI59, BG51, and BL56 Manabloom-traps with 1 lumipod and 1 spider silk spool each.)

The Reflector will put one skill point into HP and one into MP.

QUOTE (Franciacorta @ Mar 31 2020, 01:21 AM)

QUOTE (Dedomeni @ Mar 11 2020, 11:49 PM) As Fran is dragged back into the house, a slender, androgynous figure gazes down at her with eyes that gleam in all the colors of the rainbow, the rest of their face masked by a crystalline hand. Fran's visitor offers a (real) hand to help her up. THE REFLECTOR: well well well what do we have here? THE REFLECTOR: i was watching your fight your duel your rooftop skirmish and i must say i've been intent on meeting you on making your acquaintance. THE REFLECTOR: well i've been looking for a face a reflection to be to wear and i think you know where this is going. THE REFLECTOR: after all, you know exactly who i am don't you fran? Struggling to look the damn thing in its bright foken vaporwave eyes, I accept the hand, dragging myself back onto my feet. Then I remember who the one talking to me actually is. FRAN: Ooohohoho, of course I do, sweetie. FRAN: You're Serpent's new toy, aren't you? Good old Serpent. Arguably the best person out of us here... FRAN: But I also know who you are on the non-obnoxious level. Without spoiling anything, something something Conductor something something Scion's entry was just released something something fuck the system? FRAN: look I'm trying my best to be vague don't judge me Procuring a small hand mirror, I try my best to fix up my hair from all that fighting, before turning back to look the Reflector in the... in what's visible of their face. FRAN: So, you want to go Annihilation on me and take on my identity? FRAN: I don't mind. I'm actually interested to see how well you manage to pull it off. FRAN: Pro tip: if conversation goes silent or recurring existential dread kicks in, make weird demonic noises or do something random like jump in place and let out a yip. It won't drive the latter away, and it will just make you look weird, but it is accurate to character just like you better be. FRAN: Also, if in a few seconds you try mimicking my movements while cornering me, I will make you into stew and serve it to Maria.

The Reflector removes the Hand-Mask from their face, eyes sparkling, as they break into a huge smile.

THE REFLECTOR: precisely correct!
THE REFLECTOR: well i don't know about the toy part not exactly you see i'm as much a part of them as they're a part of me.
THE REFLECTOR: i think you'll find that's more true of yourself than you perhaps might want desire to admit!
THE REFLECTOR: you see, there's a little of me in every body.
THE REFLECTOR: ominous phrasing wording aside i'm not here to blather at you for eternity talking in circles am i?
THE REFLECTOR: that's what you're here for after all!

The Reflector steps back to give Fran a little more space as requested.

THE REFLECTOR: now, where to begin?

With a flourish, the Reflector produces a veil of rainbow light that surrounds them as they begin to shift. The light thankfully spares Fran most of the grosser visual details involved in an individual assuming her body structure. Once the light clears, before Fran stands her splitting image -- a sight she is likely more used to than most.

I stand in the house's entryway, newly elongated hair running down my back with elegance and grace. The color I'm used to, but the length feels foreign somehow, even though I was essentially just born. The ontological line between myself and the Reflector is sometimes rather confusing. Blame Serpent.

My ability to straddle the Fourth Wall is also new. Actually, straddle might be a poor choice of verb there. Transcend? The point is that I'm suddenly very aware of my status as a half-assed copy of a self-aware self-insert of a person who probably thinks I don't exist, and who I feel the same way about. The Reflector knew what they were getting into for reasons I still don't fully understand but probably involve canons and timelines or something. But my new knowledge is of a different sort. Why am I telling you all this? Fuck if I know.

After spending approximately twenty half-seconds seeing my life flash before my eyes, I remember the other presence in the room. Myself, that is. She's no doubt been waiting for me to speak, and I'm getting to it, of course. I'm just a little nervous. It's not often you meet yourself, but somehow realer. Realer is a stupid word, and I make a note to banish it from the English language on a later date if possible.

I brush the hair out of my eyes and begin to speak.

"FRAN": Hello...
"FRAN": Me?
"FRAN": Actually, let's not go through that whole song and dance. How about we just jump to the slightly dubious compromise play?
"FRAN": I did always want a sister, after all. I mean, you. Apologies.
"FRAN": Hello, sister!
"FRAN": How's that sound?
"FRAN":
"FRAN": If you make that fucking joke, and you know what type I'm thinking of, Maria's stew is going to have twice the Fran in it.

QUOTE (Dedomeni @ Apr 3 2020, 02:58 AM)

The Reflector will put one skill point into HP and one into MP. QUOTE (Franciacorta @ Mar 31 2020, 01:21 AM) QUOTE (Dedomeni @ Mar 11 2020, 11:49 PM) As Fran is dragged back into the house, a slender, androgynous figure gazes down at her with eyes that gleam in all the colors of the rainbow, the rest of their face masked by a crystalline hand. Fran's visitor offers a (real) hand to help her up. THE REFLECTOR: well well well what do we have here? THE REFLECTOR: i was watching your fight your duel your rooftop skirmish and i must say i've been intent on meeting you on making your acquaintance. THE REFLECTOR: well i've been looking for a face a reflection to be to wear and i think you know where this is going. THE REFLECTOR: after all, you know exactly who i am don't you fran? Struggling to look the damn thing in its bright foken vaporwave eyes, I accept the hand, dragging myself back onto my feet. Then I remember who the one talking to me actually is. FRAN: Ooohohoho, of course I do, sweetie. FRAN: You're Serpent's new toy, aren't you? Good old Serpent. Arguably the best person out of us here... FRAN: But I also know who you are on the non-obnoxious level. Without spoiling anything, something something Conductor something something Scion's entry was just released something something fuck the system? FRAN: look I'm trying my best to be vague don't judge me Procuring a small hand mirror, I try my best to fix up my hair from all that fighting, before turning back to look the Reflector in the... in what's visible of their face. FRAN: So, you want to go Annihilation on me and take on my identity? FRAN: I don't mind. I'm actually interested to see how well you manage to pull it off. FRAN: Pro tip: if conversation goes silent or recurring existential dread kicks in, make weird demonic noises or do something random like jump in place and let out a yip. It won't drive the latter away, and it will just make you look weird, but it is accurate to character just like you better be. FRAN: Also, if in a few seconds you try mimicking my movements while cornering me, I will make you into stew and serve it to Maria. The Reflector removes the Hand-Mask from their face, eyes sparkling, as they break into a huge smile. THE REFLECTOR: precisely correct! THE REFLECTOR: well i don't know about the toy part not exactly you see i'm as much a part of them as they're a part of me. THE REFLECTOR: i think you'll find that's more true of yourself than you perhaps might want desire to admit! THE REFLECTOR: you see, there's a little of me in every body. THE REFLECTOR: ominous phrasing wording aside i'm not here to blather at you for eternity talking in circles am i? THE REFLECTOR: that's what you're here for after all! The Reflector steps back to give Fran a little more space as requested. THE REFLECTOR: now, where to begin? With a flourish, the Reflector produces a veil of rainbow light that surrounds them as they begin to shift. The light thankfully spares Fran most of the grosser visual details involved in an individual assuming her body structure. Once the light clears, before Fran stands her splitting image -- a sight she is likely more used to than most. I stand in the house's entryway, newly elongated hair running down my back with elegance and grace. The color I'm used to, but the length feels foreign somehow, even though I was essentially just born. The ontological line between myself and the Reflector is sometimes rather confusing. Blame Serpent. My ability to straddle the Fourth Wall is also new. Actually, straddle might be a poor choice of verb there. Transcend? The point is that I'm suddenly very aware of my status as a half-assed copy of a self-aware self-insert of a person who probably thinks I don't exist, and who I feel the same way about. The Reflector knew what they were getting into for reasons I still don't fully understand but probably involve canons and timelines or something. But my new knowledge is of a different sort. Why am I telling you all this? Fuck if I know. After spending approximately twenty half-seconds seeing my life flash before my eyes, I remember the other presence in the room. Myself, that is. She's no doubt been waiting for me to speak, and I'm getting to it, of course. I'm just a little nervous. It's not often you meet yourself, but somehow realer. Realer is a stupid word, and I make a note to banish it from the English language on a later date if possible. I brush the hair out of my eyes and begin to speak. "FRAN": Hello... "FRAN": Me? "FRAN": Actually, let's not go through that whole song and dance. How about we just jump to the slightly dubious compromise play? "FRAN": I did always want a sister, after all. I mean, you. Apologies. "FRAN": Hello, sister! "FRAN": How's that sound? "FRAN": "FRAN": If you make that fucking joke, and you know what type I'm thinking of, Maria's stew is going to have twice the Fran in it.

With an expression of pure pride, I let out a single tear. Or, well, my avatar does, for testosterone is a deadly poison, but there's barely any distinction anyways.

FRAN: You magnificent bastich.
FRAN: You spectacular wanker.
FRAN: You even got the ironically self-gratifying narration down to a notch!
FRAN: Wait, I'm not allowed to say that anymore, let me rephrase.
FRAN: You even got the ironically self-gratifying narration down to a miku!

I take a better look at my Doppelgänger, or rather pretend to do so because we're in a text-based medium. No imperfections there, as far as I can see. So for the sake of constructive criticism, I go back and read said narration again, half-worrying if giving them reason to be metaconscious was a mistake. But mistakes are often the forefathers of invention, whenever they aren't of amusement. Speaking of mistakes...

FRAN: Hmm, I do believe you misunderstood me on one front, but then again, I haven't explicitly said anything yet that would make you understand.
FRAN: I don't see you as nonexistent. I don't see any of you pals in Fiction as such. Most of my species' members would call even the implication of that a sign of insanity, as if all of them were medical experts, but let's put those bores aside for a minute. I simply see it both as a form of respect, for you who suffer the samsara we spin for our own pleasure, and as another aspect of my optimism, or hope, or whatever you want to call it, that your multiverse is somewhere out there.
FRAN: The only reason I called you Serp's toy was because I assumed them to be the one who saw you as fake, which in hindsight was horrible of me. Sorry, gomen'nasai, entschuldigung, pardon, slikhha, mr jb n, bebaxšid.
FRAN: also what are "twenty half-seconds." Ten seconds? Twenty seconds and 500 milliseconds? Precision is key! Any door you face shall be unlocked by it.
FRAN: Lastly, and most importantly,

I raise a hand at face level as a sign of pause, as I summon a cup of rooibos caramel tea (two spoons of sugar, very important!) and sip from it.

FRAN: remember to always use British spelling. The colonists are an unruly bunch, no offence to you.

FRAN: Now, what's this joke I'm not supposed to make?~
FRAN: And. more importantly... how would you feel if I tried reflecting your base form?

RP - house

EN shrugs.

"Work's work. Ya tend t' find a friend group an' stick close wit' 'em. Pretty much 'ow it went wit' me. Ended up at th' company, settled in wit' random people, an' then tha's a friend group made."

She chuckles quietly to herself at the end of that remark, then does an awkward handtilt gesture when Taeda questions her about her own family. It seems to be serious enough of a topic for her to drop the accent again...

"It's... complicated. Generally, we've all been sisters. As for how many of us... well, I wish I could say there were that many, but defending planets has risks involved. If I had to guess... there's maybe in the realm of 200 of us still alive, and that might be highballing it a tad. 705's the oldest living EN I know of, and she'd already retired from active duty for the most part before I came around. PTSD-related issues is the official statement on it."

There's a brief pause of consideration, then 913 decides to add a bit more. The accent's back, so it mustn't be too serious, but still.

"Mind, ah've been doin' me best t' listen in on transmissions e'ery now an' then. There's been a couple rumors that... 001 might still be alive somewhere, jus' displaced real far from 'ome. Ah find it 'ard t' believe meself, but ya never know..."


RP - everground

"Wow that stings."

Engie dramatically applies a Salve to his own face because let's be honest those things will never see use otherwise, then he performs a wicked sick backwards longjump to clip out of the map briefly, causing his position to register incorrectly and dropping him off at D139 as a safety measure. He then gets to pinching the pile of credits and Core Regalias, then notices the Harpy that didn't bother getting up earlier.

"...If that Amphi lives long enough to come back and asks where the pile of credits gone... uh... claim a horrifying fecal demon rose up from the caverns below and stole it."


Battle - dune you neyrr the muffin man

The fusion performs some quick eye measurements of distances, then backs up to T6.

"Here we go. Feel the might of our hammer!"

Before anyone can point out that the fusion is in fact wielding a sword, a massive psychic projection of a hammer charges forth from the fusion's chest, apparently manifested from a glowing tricolour core. No need to guess what the colours are. The hammer promptly smacks Linseed into the floor, then vanishes.

"...And this thing!"

It then pulls out a Calamity Crystal, cooling it with Ice energies, before tossing it at Linseed as well. After that, the sword changes form, assuming the long coiled shape of a whip. The whip seems to manifest an eye with a golden-yellow iris and blazing purple sclera, staring at the Chainknight expectantly...

Laranei moves to P3, then opens fire on the Eviscerator. If it's downed in one shot, she fires her second shot at the Spotter. Next, she uses the RAC to shoot Linseed using Twin Railcannons, and then shoots Rifler2 with the Light Laser Turret.