Raizi: Bored now. Perdy, take this VP and make them stop.
Esperdica: Okay.
Yellow: P-p-pleasewatchyooorfeeet anderrorror
Raizi: Left kick incoming!
Esperdica: Jumping!
Esperdica evades and gets behind the droids!
Raizi: Do it!
Esperdica: Robots CAN smell. Smell this! Super Coffee Roaster, go!
Lots of coffee smoke! The droids slow down!
Raizi: MC, your turn!
MC: Got it! / Digram! / Yoshiori!
(B) Digram: Acknowledged.
(C) Yoshiori: I got this!
Yoshiori: Digram, take the left one!
Digram: Understood.
Yoshiori and Digram charge!
Digram: All passengers, please get behind me for your safety. Deploying super move! Removal "Out of Whiteline"!
Yoshiori: No mercy! Defense "Operation Regain"!
Yoshiori and Digram fire!
Red: U-u-unab-b-ble to control at-t-t-tack--
Boom. The droids are down.
Raizi: ...okay they stopped. Perdy, are they okay like this?
Esperdica: Yes, they ran out of power like those other ones did. It was a violent method of stopping them, but that was our only option...
MC: Good work people! Hero mode, off.
Yoshiori: Geez, we still don't know what's going on. Guys, let's tie the droids up and stick them away somewhere.
Esperdica: Right, we should contact the other workers.
Digram: I can do that. But first, may I investigate them?
Yoshiori: Oh right, you're the only one here who might know anything about mechs...
Raizi: You can figure stuff out even with them off like that?
Digram: Only one way to find out. (scans)
Esperdica: How about a coffee break again? Have a seat.
Raizi: Cool, thanks. Gotta build up my focus guage again.
Yoshiori: Not like we can do anything else, so okay.
Yoshiori: ...so Raizi, Esperdica. You guys vibe pretty well together. I know how hard that is from boot camp.
Esperdica: Thank you. We pair up a lot in our agency. Also I've known Raizi long enough that I can read his mind.
Raizi: U-uh, you joke but you don't make it sound like one.
Esperdica: Am I? Well I need to have a discerning eye like you do too.
Esperdica pulls out coffee beans and a grinder out of hammerspace and starts making coffee.
MC: Raizi, you're so observant and your concentration is amazing!
Raizi: Thanks. Part of the gambler job, I guess. Anything to increase your odds.
Yoshiori: What do you even do though?
Raizi: (fiddles with dice) Nothing special. Just watch and think. Hmm, remember the dice game I was playing in Procy's bar? We were guessing what we'd roll. Wanna guess how I won all those times?
MC: Observer Powers? / Body reading? / dunno
(A) Raizi: That'd be cheating and parallel worlds aren't THAT close. Also I don't like games I can't lose.
(B) Raizi: Wow you could be a great gambler, MC. Wanna play? Oh wait, not now. But think about how I kept winning that game.
Raizi: Remember the wolf guy I played against? He kept sliding aside when rolling, which cuts down on what the final result becomes. I just had to keep track of what was face up when he grabbed the dice first.
Yoshiori: Oh. I KNEW it wasn't just dumb luck.
Raizi: It doesn't work all the time, but that wolf guy was too easy to read.
Yoshiori sighs. Esperdica brings coffee.
Esperdica: So how is Gambling 101 with Raizi? It could help a lot with your life even if you can't use it all right away. I learned how to read people's coffee preferences that way. Speaking of, here you go.
Esperdica: (grabs mug) And one for you, Digram. Enjoy.
Raizi: Thanks Perdy.
Esperdica smiles, then turns to Digram.
Raizi: Smells good. Relaxing.
Yoshiori: Mine too. How'd he get so good at making coffee? I can't get a read on him.
Raizi: He's just like that, please understand. He's even more like what with people he likes. Anyways, how about some small talk? Any questions for me, MC?
MC: Why are you a gambler? / Tell me about your sordid past / What's your relationship with Esperdica?
(A) Raizi: I mean, I can tell you but it's not THAT interesting. But if you still wanna know...
(B) Raizi: You mean the ghost thing? Couldn't you have picked something lighter...? Well I do owe you for everything Yoshiori said, so okay.
(C) Raizi: Wow I didn't think you'd care so much. I'll have to get into my backstory first.
Raizi: Sooo I've always had Observer powers since I was young. I could see things people couldn't and sense things that weren't supposed to be there, so everyone treated me like a creep. I was a slum kid by the time I started remembering things, but don't ask how I got there. And then this one guy took me in.
Flashback!
Scary Man: ...you alive kid?
Raizi: ...who?
Scary Man: Oh you are. Eat this, you're gonna cramp my day if you bite the dust in front of my home.
Scary Man offers crappy bread. Still the best thing ever for Raizi as he proceeds to choke on it, prompting Scary Man to sigh and give him water too.
Scary Man: Ugh, slow down. You have a home? ...or family?
Raizi shakes his head.
Scary Man: Oh. Shit. Okay, come along or get lost.
Raizi: R-really? W-wait!
Raizi (narrating): That guy basically adopted me, giving me food and board and taught me how to gamble. He's also the one who named me Raizi, so I wanted to grow up quick and pay him back.
Scary Man: A live-in job at an Observer research lab?
Raizi: They're looking into Observer abilities. That's what my powers are, right? I can pay you back if I go.
Scary Man: Raizi, remember you aren't a kid no more so--
Raizi: Take no shit, right? I can take care of myself.
Scary Man: ...alright, if you're sure.
Raizi: I swear to pay you back.
Present
Raizi: In hindsight, he suspected something was off. Offer was too good to be true for a slum kid, and lots of people hated Observers around there. And he was right. The lab WAS researching Observers, but they were assholes.
He seems upset now.
Raizi: They weren't like real scientists if you know what I mean. They just wanted to use us to prove their beliefs about the afterlife, souls, and what happens to souls of people vored by Monsters. They chained us up and showed us snuff videos, wanting us to see parallel worlds from that.
MC: oof...
Raizi is grabbing his arms hard and looks up when MC says something.
Raizi: ...they wanted us to see the afterlife as their first goal. I saw something the others didn't, which is a thing that happens for some reason. The lab jerks thought that was good and said I had the eyes of truth or some junk, even though it didn't prove anything. I didn't even know what I was looking at, and I still don't. But...I don't want to see any of it anymore.
Yoshiori: Well damn. How'd you get out? (puts down coffee)
Raizi: I snuck out an exhaust port with just the clothes on my back. I got back near my old slum home, but the lab jerks were already there.
Flashback!
Scary Man: Kid's gone, sucks to be you. Now get out, because no one ever comes back here.
Present
Raizi: I knew that meant he was covering for me and to get out myself. He taught me the gambling basics, so he probably knew I was there. (sighs)
Raizi: ...then I started bumming around towns and forgot how to get back. But life is hard for a bum and I eventually crapped out after using up all my food and savings.
Esperdica: Hmm, this sounds familiar. (sneaks up from behind Raizi)
Yoshiori: Where'd you come from!?
Raizi: Could you not? Man Perdy, you have gotten better at the presence concealment thing.
MC: Hi Esperdica and Digram.
Esperdica: Excuse me. I figured you'd want refills right about now, and Digram's done with his checks and wanted to take a break.
Digram: Thank you Esperdica, and excuse me for interrupting. I will give my results after my break.
Esperdica: Um, you can relax okay?
Digram: Understood. Break mode activate. This coffee is lovely, please continue. (sits down and smells coffee)
Esperdica: Please enjoy. Now why don't I pick up on this personal history flashback? (sips coffee and looks aside at Raizi)
Raizi: Sure, that'd be better for everyone.
Esperdica: ...oh I see. Okay, you were at Raizi's homeless bum part? (clears throat)
Esperdica: So, one winter day I was coming home from work when on the way I found Raizi buried in the snow...
Raizi: !!
Title Card: Fight Against the Sheer Cold
Raizi: Ohmygod Perdy shut up
MC: did he die
Esperdica: It was rather alarming, but his first words to me was "food pls"
Yoshiori: That's it? Well, I mean except for the out cold in the snow bit.
Raizi: Okay yeah I was that hungry and Perdy helped me. It was a crazy time but he helped me.
Esperdica: Indeed, he helped me too. (smiles at Raizi shrugging)
Digram: ? Requesting clarification. Was Raizi not the assisted party here?
Esperdica: Oh, right. I was feeling lost at that point in life. Stay in a stable insurance job or jump ship and risk opening up the cafe of my dreams? I mean service work is hard, but I just wasn't brave enough to weigh the pros and cons yet. And no one was supportive of me trying to go into cafe business. Couldn't decide, and then I met Raizi. (lowers eyes) He inhaled my food, looked awkward, then stared at me before struggling to say...
Raizi: ...I saw him working in a cafe.
MC: Oh / His power, huh? / Why was it a struggle?
(C) Raizi: I barely got away from the lab jerks by then and it'd be weird to bring it up since Perdy hadn't yet. Also I was a little afraid to say anything about it at all.
Esperdica: It was such a surprise, especially since I never brought up my cafe dream to him. But then he talked about the lab and his abilities, and he saw me in a parallel world as a barista hero with my own place.
Yoshiori: ...and that's when you believed him?
Esperdica: Yes. I'm also quite attentive towards people and I knew about Observers. Also...
Flashback!
Esperdica: Oh, so that's one possibility for me?
Raizi: Yeah, out of all the other Esperdicas I see. Not that the rest are mistakes. You decide how to play your hand. I just make your ideals even a little bit more likely, to borrow someone else's words. (smiles a little)
Raizi: Gamblers gotta be confident to win and never stop going for everything you want. That's what I was taught.
Esperdica: !?
Esperdica: ...that's wonderful.
Present
Esperdica: And that's what convinced me to go be a hero and barista with my own cafe. That was rather long winded of me, hehe. (sighs as his tail wags slightly)
Esperdica: I stuck my nose into Raizi's business until he got onto his feet, then worked things out with my old job before jumping tracks and apprenticing in coffee.
MC: what a dramatic meeting
Raizi: Uh, could you stop sounding like you're enjoying it all so much when talking about how I was then?
Esperdica: (smiles) I'm kidding. That enough for our backstory presentation?
Raizi: Y-yeah, good enough.
Yoshiori: Yeah, sort of. I guess. You two knew each other a long time, got it.
Raizi: Right, let's stop there before Esperdica goes full soap opera and makes me sound like a total loser.
Esperdica: Aww, I'm hurt you'd say that. But okay, that's enough then.
Esperdica: Ahem. Everyone's about done with coffee, so it's about time to get back to investigating I suppose?
MC: Thanks for telling us your backstories!
Digram: Yes, very insightful. Thank you very much.
Esperdica: Great. Next time will be your turn, Digram.
Digram: Acknowledged. Backstory presentation directive order to be fulfilled on my next break.
Esperdica: Um, it's just a friendly request instead of a formal order. But yes, thank you.
Digram: Very well then. Reinitializing work mode. Shall I proceed with my research results on the android soldiers?
MC: Yes please.
Digram: (nods) Detailed system check unavailable due to droid shutdown, but data logs have heavy volumes of error messages.
MC: ...they're bugging out?
Yoshiori: a what log
Digram: System record of actions taken. Literally everything they tried to do resulted in an error message. It is possible the soldiers have been hacked somehow.
Raizi: Huh. Who then?
Digram: No search results found. Details require reboot.
Esperdica: Hmm. So all we know is that the soldiers aren't doing this because they want to.
Yoshiori: And we still haven't disproven the existence of the zombie ghosts people started yelling about when the droids went buggy. They might still be here... (looks around)
Raizi: U-uh, could you stop? You're making me uncomfortable.
Yoshiori: But it's true. We have ta catch one to figure out if they're real or not.
Raizi: Them being real would SUCK though! The cause being "not zombie ghosts" is good enough for me and--AAH
Raizi's phone starts making noise!
Raizi: HELP
Yoshiori: GET OFF ME
Raizi: POLTERGEIST
Esperdica: Calm down you two, my phone is making noise too. This seems familiar...
MC: My phone isn't working either...wait, this is like before!
Digram: MC, Raizi, jamming signals detected. Same frequency as used by the droid soldi--
SLAM
Green: P-p-please becaref-f-ful ofthe d-d-d-doooor
Esperdica: Raizi, it's the soldiers and not some zombie ghost! Transform us!
Raizi: O-oh, good.
Yoshiori: Wait, there's more soldiers than before! MC, transform me too.
MC: That function still works! Execute!
The party suits up!
Green: P-p-pleeeease r-r-r-ruuuunnnn
Yoshiori: I don't SEE any hackers around or anything. Well we gotta stop these guys first anyways so...
Digram: Scanning is possible if performed before forced shutdown. However, projected success rate due to stalling combat and necessary blocking of attacks is at 5%.
Esperdica: That's dangerous. But first, we need to stop them before they hurt anyone since we have no healers. Raizi, your orders!
Raizi: R-right. Let's do this MC.
MC: Okay. Wave battle, ride on!
Raizi: AAAAAAAA
MC: WAIT WHAT
Yoshiori: R-Raizi, what's going on!?
Raizi: ZOMBIE GHOST LEAVE THIS PLACE
Raizi points over. There is definitely some humanoid shade over there.
Yoshiori: OH GOD ZOMBIE GHOST
Esperdica: What!? Wait, calm down you two!
MC: Wait, that's no zombie ghost!
The shadow seems to be solidifying.
Esperdica: That's a body! Wait, he's...!
Look, it's Tabit!
Tabit: Enemy confirmed. Order: protect friend! Wait! Digram! Mech life form! Why!? No mercy!
Yoshiori: It's him! Wait, he's coming to attack!
Esperdica: Well he's in no state to listen! Raizi, can you do it!?
Raizi: Y-yeah, I can work through it!
Digram: Him! MC, your orders! Prioritizing pacification. Simulation run projects eleven minute and twenty eight second delay.
MC: Right, get ready to fight! Let's go!
BATTLE START
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