Roleplay Mafia Minigame ❧ NIGHT SIX

Amumu, looked up to see the red-haired man. He was about to respond, but the man had already turned toward the speaker again, addressing him.

The mummy just sighed out a short, sad whimper instead.

Luke jumped at the small whimper beside him. He glance at the mummy, then patted the small guy's head. He was going to end up with another Mieu this way, but no one deserves to be crying puddles of tears.

Amumu looked up at him again, blinking. Maybe this person might be his friend? Maybe...and he did seem to have an interest in the feather as well...

"Are you looking for the feather too?"

List of experiment candidates, in order of receipt.

1. How much does [that individual whose name Carlos didn’t seem to catch] care?
   
2. What is the airspeed velocity of some number of words that Carlos wasn’t familiar with, but sounded absolutely scientifically relevant, and was worth investigation at a later date?
   
3. What does science say about the feather thingy?
   

Only one of these actually included the word ‘science’ verbatim, and so it was obvious which one Carlos would answer. The questioner had already turned away, but Carlos directed an animated response towards the side of the boy's head regardless, entirely undeterred.

“Interesting that you ask! I’ve actually been monitoring the danger levels here in Traverse Town,” and at this point, Carlos produced from his pocket a complicated scientific instrument that, if it had to be represented in words, could only be characterized as ‘complicated’ and ‘scientific.’ “And according to my Danger Meter, this plaza, the one we’re all standing in right now, well, it’s fifteen Standard Fatality Units above the Traverse Town average. From these readings, I would estimate that there are somewhere between 1.9 and 2.3 feather guardians here in our immediate vicinity, plus or minus an elbow. Or maybe a kneecap.” He scanned the crowd, presumably to look for a stray, or perhaps missing, kneecap, and found none.

“In any case, fifteen Standard Fatality Units is still well within acceptable levels, so I don’t expect anyone to be dying any more gruesome and horrifying deaths than normal, at least within the next... oh, thirty-five seconds.” And with this, he smiled a reassuring smile that Cecil might describe as ‘radiant’ and ‘captivating,’ and that the rest of Traverse Town might describe as ‘not at all actually reassuring.’

Sayaka usually tried not to rush into things—usually—but somehow, she always found herself right in the mix of trouble, often with a sword in her hand and a fire in her heart. She never saw much use in sitting idle, not while others suffered. She was puella magi. To plead inaction was the highest shame—a shame that would never rest upon her shoulders. And so, she could be, as some would call it, rash.

Today, she would not be rash.

She entered the first district like a whisper carried on a gentle breeze. Others were present, and though they bore an odd assortment, clashing like a rainbow whose colors were all screwed up, in some sense they were kindred spirits. They, too, came as outsiders—not as puella magi, which marked her apart from her peers in her world, but as refugees and fugitives of wanton destruction that wracked across worlds beyond her own. It was a machine of hatred, its gears churning and smashing the hopes and happiness of entire civilizations, and it left Sayaka sick and dizzy. She cared for the plight of these displaced peoples, just as she identified with those like herself, transported to this alien, timeless landscape with no means of escape. In the days (or was it weeks?) since she had arrived, she had learned much of the residents of Traverse Town, and, in so doing, she had come to know of the feather.

The feather.

The mere thought of the feather sent warmth and solace coursing through her veins. The feather meant happiness, and it meant peace. Illustrations of the feather brought with them strange bliss, not too dissimilar from the touch or embrace of a friend long forgotten. Its colors, a soft pink swirled over fluffy whites, felt more right than anything in the universe. The feather could purify all evils and heal all pains in a way that Sayaka never could. Its siren call pealed out a single note, and then another, and its cosmic song tugged at Sayaka, and she fell helpless into its lull and plummeted, and it was faster, now, and she would never look away, if only she could stare at its brightness, gaze upon its certain prominence, and become one with its call and then she would—

Sayaka shook her head clear and kept her eyes focused on the group gathered in the square. The feather was everything—both her salvation and that of others—but without the help of these others, it was lost. And she must not be rash or she might ruin not just her chance, but Kyouko's.

Of course, Kyouko had something else in mind. There, off behind an oiled shop window, making faces and throwing a fit for all the world to see, was none other than Sayaka's mischievous and fiery companion...

“Kyouko... Sakura...” Sayaka said to herself through gritted teeth, sinking into her boots, the ground, or whatever would take pity and swallow her up first. That girl will be the death of me.

Meanwhile, the meeting in the square's center was in full swing. Out of the corner of her eye, Sayaka saw a short and... unusual looking girl glow with brilliant white radiance as her form stretched and elongated, until the light faded to reveal a monstrous... thing that loomed over the few nearest her... it.

But it wasn't the form that truly shocked Sayaka, now accustomed to the bizarre residents of Traverse Town. No, it was the transformation magic that widened her eyes and caused her to absently touch her hand to where she had stashed her soul gem.

Kyouko.

Sayaka locked eyes with Kyouko and held a finger to her lips. Then, she pointed at the hairy purple behemoth—which now glowed again and returned to its smaller form—and mouthed, “Witch?” with the hint of a shrug. She hesitated, wincing at the thought of Kyouko tumbling out into the square, but gestured for the other girl to come and join her all the same.

This was not rash, but what came next might be.

“What's a witch doing looking for the feather?” Sayaka said loud enough for others to hear.

---

((Vote: Panmethyst, because, gurl, you scary.))

Soren kept a eye on Carlos, not too phased his question had been ignored. He followed his gaze to the boy with long red hair, noticing the mummy beside him and being a bit puzzled at the sight of it but presumed Amumu was just a heavily injured child.

He listened to Carlos's explanation, staring in utter bewilderment at the strange contraption that he had pulled out, listening to him and not understanding the units of measurement stated. Even if he further suspected that they were just made up by the man for some reason.

He sighed at the point and estimated time frame, knowing that it was far from a definite one and probably was fairly complicated. Although the smile did little to reassure him.

"Basically all that... thing... told you is that no one is currently planning on killing anyone else with that time frame. And, hopefully, not at all." Soren summed it up calmly and bluntly, holding back a sigh otherwise.

He focused onto Sayaka when she spoke up, raising a eyebrow at the mention of a witch although not quite picking up on what she could mean.

"Mmm? What do you mean by a "witch"? I don't see any witches here. If you were referring to me, I am a mage. If you were referring to the man talking about "buses", science, and had that horrific noise come from him, I have no idea of what he could be. If you're referring to the child wrapped in bandages, I presume he is wounded. If at the man angry at the lady with the shape-shifting abilities, then I don't know anything about him yet. If the red haired boy with the bandaged child, he hasn't spoken much. And if at the shape-shifter, she probably comes from a world where it's typical to be able to do so, and maybe her tall friend could explain more about them and what they are." Soren spoke calmly, trying not to leave anyone out as he studied the new comer cautiously, taking in her clothes and her general look, curious over her as well but more perplexed at her bringing up a witch.

At Soren's suggestion that the mummy was injured, Amumu started patting himself to be sure. He then looked up at the man, and said, "No. I'm okay." It wasn't very convincing, given his usual, droning tone, but at least the sniffling had subsided.

Amumu was startled though when Cecil seemed to be speaking to him. He touched his chest in a, "who, me?" gesture. He then, hesitatingly said, "My name's Amumu. Uhm..

Sudden social pressure prevented him from saying more.

((For those wondering what Amumu sounds like: https://youtu.be/8oCozO42DZI Too bad they left out the character select line, though. "I thought you'd never pick me..."))

"Hey, I'm not a boy! I'm seventeen and the ambassador of Kimlasca! As for the feather... if it can truly get me home..." Luke notice many of the faceless towns people looking at him, and blushed slight.

"It would be nice if we could all go home. Also it's rude to call a person a witch, blue chick."

Even as he spoke his last line, he almost could hear Jade say,
'You shouldn't be talking.'

He paused a second then asked Carlos, "What do you mean by Standard Fatality Units? Does that mean that someone is going to die?"
_________________________
((Why did I have pick someone that is anti-killing?))

(( Sorry Rasei! I wrote this before I saw your post and now I'm not sure where to fit in a reply to Luke's question so let's just say that Carlos got so worked up that he wasn't paying attention to anyone else. Which happens pretty often, actually. ))

---

Carlos bristled. It wasn’t a severe bristle. On the scale of bristling to not bristling, it was about at the level of Khoshekh on a windy day, and not Khoshekh facing off against a pack of switch-bladed mountain dogs. “I am not a man. I am a scientist.”

A pause, to reflect on what he’d just said.

“I suppose I am also a man. But what I meant to say is that through science, through the study of the natural and unnatural world via observation and experiment that composes the concept of science, we are all more than just ‘a man’ or ‘a woman’ or ‘a purple shapeshifting being of ambiguous gender.’ We are together, all of our minds, each a thread that forms the fabric of a collective understanding far beyond the confines of a single lifetime! So yes. I can find out through my knowledge of science the average gender or age of those 1.9 to 2.3 feather guardians.”

Here, Carlos crossed his arms. “But I am not going to.”

That sounded harsher than he’d intended. He really had to get better at sounding the correct level of harsh for his intention. He took a hasty breath to remedy the situation. “W-what I mean is… I did say this earlier but, I’m not really interested in finding the feather guardians and fighting in your whole… small-town otherworld feather war.” Again, the hand gesture indicative of a small-town otherworld feather war. “Not… that… I don’t support you or anything because I do! I am very supportive of all of your decisions, Cecil, including the ones where you stage rebellions against evil corporate overlords, or the ones where you volunteer at bake sales to fund the impending-and-past-and-also-currently-ongoing Blood Space War. But maybe not including the decision to replace the shower curtain with barbed wire--I don’t really think that one was a good decision. But in any case, I’m not taking part in this.”

Another breath, followed by an exhale, followed by a slight tilt of the head and the sheepish running of one hand through what has often been called perfect hair. “Although, I guess, I mean... if you insist on me helping for personal, or even non-personal reasons, I... well I’m not going to say no... I mean, we are both aware that I am not very good at saying no to you, especially when you make that one facial expression where you do that thing with your eyes--It’s just, you know, Cecil, science. You get it, right?”

---

(( And after all that, an emphatic vote: no vote from Carlos.

Today's proverb: Yesterday's history, tomorrow's a mystery, and today is a Gift, which is German for "poison."))

(( omg gomen work and then stevenbomb happened, my life is gay space rocks ))

The bustle and hubbub was beginning to get on her nerves, too many things happening at once, too many voices to keep track of, too much noise to try to sort through. Her fingers tangled in her hair, palms covering her ears, and she shook her head violently, a growling noise coming out.

"rrrrrrRRRRRRR SHUT UP! You're all talkin' too much!"

She took a few brief moments to sort through her senses before she pointed at the blue girl.

"You! Who you callin' a witch? I'm a gem!" She pulled the front of her shirt down further, exposing the hexagonal-faceted stone set in her chest. "A gem! Amethyst! And don't friggin' forget it!"

Honestly, there was a point in time where they had been accused of being witches. ...more than one point in time. Really, humans were so superstitious, just the tiniest thing they didn't understand, and you end up wipin' soot off'a your gem for like the fifth time because humans lived short lives, humans would forget, and gems would regenerate. A human's lifetime was a blink to a gem- well, supposedly. Amethyst was still awfully... young for her kind.

Six thousand years was still considerably longer than any human had ever lived, at least.

(( gems and puella magi are pretty much the same u kno. with kyouko/sayaka and amethyst/pearl we have two different color sets of the eXACT SAME PAIRING- i mean what hi hello was i saying something ))

Kyouko sighed from relief as Sayaka's eyes finally found hers. She gripped the large sack (it used to hold coffee beans before she dumped them out and used it as a burglar bag) filled partially with fruits, sandwiches, and sweets, getting ready to sneak out from the back and meet up with her cute blue-haired puella magi. Kyouko's expression turned from excited to curious as her partner put a finger to her lips, 'Be silent!', and pointed at the same weird purple girl that she had noticed earlier. Oh, so she was uninterested on the food.

'Witch?'

Kyouko wasn't too good at lip reading but there was no mistaking it. Sayaka was pointing at that purple girl ('She's like a grape.') and motioning for her to come over.  ('B-but...oh alright.')

The redhead glanced at the human grape again.

Kyouko squinted her eyes unnecessarily at her. Maybe if she looked hard enough she'd appear more witch-like.

'Hmmm...'

No matter how she much she looked, that thing didn't seem like a witch. Magical, sure, maybe even sinister, but not a witch. Kyouko flashed Sayaka a doubtful expression, but she didn't seem to see it. ('What! Lost interest in me already?!)

And then she heard Sayaka's voice ring loud and clear,
“What's a witch doing looking for the feather?”

Kyouko stared incredulously at her friend, who had just directed a question the the whole crowd quite confidently. ('That is such a Sayaka thing to do.') Looks like Sayaka had no intention of staying hidden, so she might as well follow her lead and support her. With little signs of hesitation, Kyouko decided that wrong or not, she was going to help Sayaka with this witch, and the feather, which at first mention elicited a strange feeling.

She felt hungry, not for substance, but for... something else. Ah yes, the feather sounded delicious.

A few slashes from the hard steel of her spear was enough to reduce the door (and the area surrounding it) to a pile of useless debris. Bits and pieces of the construction material littered on the floor, creating an unattractive mess that interrupted the serene and romantic appeal the district once wore. Kyouko ignored the fact that the action was loud enough to direct everyone's attention to her. She never cared about what anybody else thought - the world was hers to rule for all she cared.

Maybe she could have Sayaka there too. She'd share her world with Sayaka.

Kyouko swatted away the annoying dust that had accumulated and called out with just as much confidence and perhaps a lot more vigor, "If you say so, Sayaka! Now what's this about a feather?"

---

((This is happening..after Carlos' dialogue I suppose. Yeah I don't think Kyouko heard anything besides what Sayaka said because she was too busy monologuing and not paying attention. This is totally in character! But she'll be communicating with everyone after this post finally!))

(( Reminder about the 24 hour activity requirement. I think kalyri still needs to post today! ;v; ))