Comms NPC Side Story (Comms) Turn of the New Day

[Chako]

"Oooooh, did you hear that, Emmie!? Harper was amazing! She put her life on the line to save many of her friends! She's a hero! A true hero!!" Chako continued speaking to Emmie with a big smile on her face.

@MAI @Harper

But then, Chako heard Mai speak some stuff in her weird way that made her stop and think for a second... "So you're saying... That little Emmie had criminal parents that were arrested by a serious confidential crime, and Mr. Accelerator had to adopt little Emmie to take her away from their horrible hands!?" Chako gasped, "I see, and I guess miss Clarissa was against the adoption, so his marriage is now in trouble and poor Emmie is being neglected... You're having it rough while being so young..." Chako poked Emmie's cheek as she spoke. It was a good thing Emmie was still too young to worry about that. Hopefully she could grow up without needing to learn the details of her what her parents did.

She also wondered if the horrible crime ended up killing Accelerator's mom... That felt horrifying to imagine though, so Chako didn't give that any more thought.

@MAI

Chako then turned to Clarissa with a face that showed she was having none of that, "Then start behaving like a proper mom for her and learn what she eats! How is only her dad the only one who knows it!? This is clearly neglect no matter how you look at it! I'm really disappointed in you, miss Clarissa! Emmie having a tough background doesn't make her need any less food than other babies!"

And then... Chako could only watch in disbelief as that guy who took a spoon to the eye was speaking some unbelievable things and wasn't being chastised properly... "You're so disgusting..." She muttered at a loud enough voice for him to hear.

And then came... Another guy with an eyepatch? Was this an eyepatch party or something!? "I'll definitely take care of her! It seems like miss Clarissa is unsuited to properly taking care of a child, after all! Hmph!" Or at least for as long as she doesn't start taking responsibility for little Emmie she is! I will not stand around and let a lovely baby like this one get neglected like that!

@Raid Boss

 

[Luthien]

"Well it's not often I come across another tea fan, so I'd be delighted to share a cup or to with you sometime." She was certainly an interesting woman, and someone Luth felt she wouldn't mind getting to know more.

@Sophi​

An unexpecting thumping echoed in her ears, causing Luth to look in its direction in time to spot Ash as he caught up to them on the second floor. { Sorry 'bout that... everything alright? } She hadn't meant to leave him alone downstairs for so long, but how could she have known about the interesting scene she'd stumble into while bringing the Headmaster his dose of caffeine?

@Ash Vargold​

"Now, if you'll excuse us, there's a lot to prepare for the man of the hour today." The mocha was handed over to Accelerator before the elf placed both hands of his shoulder, grinning towards Ordnung and Sophi, before she began directing him towards the door. "Have a good chat~"

@Ordnung | @Sophi​

"That totally surprised me..." Once the door had been closed and they were far enough from the room in question Lúthien let out a long exhale, her gaze turning to Ash as she spoke. "And she's such a beauty, too!"

The year just seemed filled with one surprise after another, though she was thankful it wasn't the deadly kind this time.

"Alright mister," Her attention turned to the blue-haired magia she'd been guiding by holding onto his shoulders. "First off, did you like that drink? And be honest, otherwise I won't know what you enjoy and what you hate."

She barely gave him a moment to reply before the next question was fired off. "And what do you wanna do first today? Hair, or clothes?"

@Ash Vargold | @Accelerator​

 

[Ash Vargold]

Ash paused at the top of the stairs, ears perked as he caught the spoken half of the conversation. Blood on his hands? Memory bleedover? What the fuck? He peered into the room, but the words written on Ordnung's sheets of paper didn't add much context.

"Heard there was a situation up here. Sorry, didn't mean to send you into it."

There wasn't much heart behind his apology to Accelerator, though. He turned towards Lúthien with a shrug, unable to respond directly to her telepathic message.

"It's a whole party down there. Someone even brought drinks and music. I thought this was just supposed to be a quick job..."

His attention was elsewhere as Lúthien began her work, tail waving uncertainly as he rotated Accelerator's words in his mind. It was probably just some kind of Lander nonsense, but part of him still wanted to know.

"Lúthien, are you gonna need me for anything in particular? Or should I watch the door in case anyone tries to peep?"

@Raid Boss @Luthien

 

[Raid Boss]

Note: Finish your dialog, the cycle will be updated tomorrow and the comm's timeline will be updated too as a result.

Location: Ordnung's Room

Ordnung nodded affirmatively at Luthien as she headed out the door.

When Nin entered his room, Ordnung began writing on his notepad once more, "You're here, Nin. How are the reparation and preparations going?"

The headmaster asked in writing. After it looked like she had finished reading, he continued, "The Ynglar Brotherhood agreed to lend us a hand, and will be sending representatives to MITHRA-II in 2-weeks time."

The man then turned toward Sophistria and softened his facial features as he wrote her a message, "I'll transfer the rest of the researchers to you for the time being, can you handle them and those kids at the same time?"

@Luthien @Plutopia @Pandora*​

Location: Right Outside Ordnung's Room

The blue-haired magia hook his head at Ash's apology before turning toward Luthien. He took a few seconds to formulate a response in his head before arriving at the answer, "I believe the drink is more than adequate, if perhaps too much so. This magia body can taste food, but for a mind that is unused to flavoring, it is extremely stimulating."

@Luthien @Ash Vargold​

Location: Kitchen

"Hah?!" Clarissa made her surprise known in response to Chako. "Now listen here, missy. I have been busting my butt caring for this baby for the last couple of weeks. Don't you be calling me a bad mother!" Clarissa snapped while she began prepping to whip up the party food.

@Chako​

"The wee-babe is healthy so let the west-wind cool down that head-heat of yours, Miss Clarissa."

France mediated the heated exchange as he stood between the fixer and the felis.

"While you may be right, your words lack a caring delicacy, Miss Chako. I don't believe it's a good habit for impressionable babes to pick that up so early in their childhood or you'll have a spoiled princess!"

Ivan was too busy mixing his drinks to join the fiasco around him. Chef Ivan was completely in his element with his tongue sticking out assembling the cocktails he was known for.

 

[Chako]

Chako flinched in response to the shouts, lowering her ears to her head to try muffling the sound a bit. She really wanted to put her hands on her ears to better muffle the sound, but that was not a possibility with little Emmie on her arms, so she just tried to endure the pain she was feeling to the best of her capabilities.

She also couldn't really wipe away the tears that started leaving her eyes, so she decided to just deal with that for now.

Instead, she just gently stroke Emmie's hair and muttered, "Don't shout near Emmie, you're gonna make her cry..." And herself too, but that was not important right now!

Though Chako couldn't quite get what the words of eyepatch-guy-#2 meant, "It's important for little Emmie to learn to speak up. Keeping your thoughts to yourself won't change things for the better. And she absolutely needs the people near her to know what she eats..." She felt like the right thing to do was to take little Emmie to her papa right away, as he at least seemed to know the basics of little Emmie's necessities... But he was receiving guests right now, so that would be a bit troublesome...

But little Emmie is more important than guests!

... But it's not like she seems to be hungry right now...

"There, there. Don't worry. Nobody will shout at you again. Let's just keep playing with miss Harper instead, shall we?" Chako decided to stay put for the time being, so she just kept on talking to Emmie and trying to make her smile.

 

[Ash Vargold]

Ash had vague memories of the man named "Accelerator" that he'd met back during the Camp Hope situation. He'd come away with a rather negative impression of the man.

This guy... didn't seem like the same person. He didn't even seem to be a "person" at all. Trauma could change a person, but this seemed... off.

Ash Vargold @Luthien
this is weird right? he was rude when we saw him at camp hope
am I missing something?

The half-heard conversation occupied his thoughts once more. Maybe he would have to go talk to the other MIT folks after all.

 

[Pandora*]

Nin
Mathematician

Location: Ordnung's Room

"Yes Headmaster. Here is the report."

Handing Ordnung the folder, Nin's eyes scanned the writing he shared. Her hand pulling her glasses down ever so slightly as her frown curled into a barely present smile. She nodded and closed her eyes with a sudden bout of exhaustion.

Everything tired her these days. It was getting worse with time.

"It is good to see you are well Headmaster. I will subtract myself. Unless an additional factor is requested?"

Nin stopped for a moment as if she remembered the ease of access entering the home. This place was not meeting proper security requirements.

"Please make sure to lock your doors and keep out too many unnecessary variables. ..sigh. Well, I will need to conduct a quick examination of the decimal humanoid, *ahem* the baby. Perhaps a stool sample as well."

She shook her head, Nin was now some sort of pediatrician it seemed but she had her tasks. But... stool? Urgh.

@Raid Boss

 

[Luthien]

"Fair enough," She hadn't considered that part or, more accurately speaking, she hadn't been aware that Accelerator had been unable to taste anything until recently. "We'll keep it simple for your tastebuds for a while then."

It'd be interesting to see what flavors he began gravitating towards as he expanded his horizons.

@Accelerator​

The message blinking at the corner of her screen hadn't gone unnoticed and, once she found the opportunity without raising awareness to it, Lúthien clicked to expand and read it.

"Yeah, I wasn't aware so many people would be dropping by either." Had she gotten the time wrong perhaps, arrived too early or too late? Then again it could've been a simple oversight from Clarissa, taking care of a baby was hard work after all. "Mmm, yeah... we probably should get measurements out of the way now while we have the chance."

An eyebrow was raised as Ash asked if he'd be needed for anything—though she had to admit his suggestion wasn't a bad one. "Maybe I should have you watch the windows instead." A soft chuckle escaped before she turned towards the blue-haired magia.

"Alright, which one's your room? Doubt you wanna get measured out here in the hallway."

@Accelerator | @Ash Vargold​

{ Hard to say. } her voice popped into his mind once more, returning back to the contents of Ash's message as Accelerator guided the way. { Maybe the him we met before was his "work mode" in a way, and now we're getting to see the "unmasked" side of him? }

Everyone had been on high alert shortly after Camp Hope after all, and with good reason given the events that had transpired. Truth was that they barely knew anything about Accelerator or how he'd come to be in the first place—and the events underground had only caused her questions to multiply.

{ Remember when we talked about MITHRA's mishaps?} So much had happened that Lúthien hadn't been sure where to start, though she'd eventually told him about a curious scene among many. { It's already wild enough how that woman hacked into his brain somehow... but Ordnung also had a surprise up his sleep.}

@Ash Vargold​

 

[Plutopia]

With: @Luthien Ordnung ( @Raid Boss } Nin (@Pandora*)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sophi gave a light wave of farewell to Luthien as she sipped her tea. Once Luthien left, Sophi placed her cup and saucer on the table and turned back towards Ordnung and began writing in her journal again. When Nin entered, she glanced up to give her fellow researcher an affirming nod and returned to writing.

...

This message is getting kind of long...

....

I'll shorten it with emojis.

Pausing and changing course, Sophi began scribbling once more. When Nin had finished, Sophi held up her latest message:

It had become a signboard of a large thumbs up. Then she began to talk, defeating the entire purpose.

More kids? I'll be looking forward to it.

She nodded.

But we both know it's you I'm after. Maybe we can tackle both our goals at once. Let's make some time in our schedule and do it. And while we're doing it, It'd be nice if you could also lend a hand elsewhere. There's something I've been wanting to try, but I think only your considerable experience could pull it off. It's always nice to try something new, right? It keeps things fresh. I think we'd both enjoy it.

Sipping her tea, Sophi, regarded Ordnung for a moment. It was like she was sizing Ordnung up. Or, maybe, she was trying to find the right words for the situation. Or, maybe still, she just thought the vanilla smelled nice. Likely all of the above. Sophistria sighed.

Listen, Ordnung. About that magia. I don't have all the details yet; concerning him, or the situation. It's still processing. But, what I do know is you. When the going gets tough, many people will be quick to criticize and few will be quick to act. You did what you could, when you could. That's admirable. If anything he seems a little too well adjusted on account of everything...

Sophi nodded.

So, my initial assessment is that you did good Ordnung. Better than most, I reckon. So we can start with that and leave hindsight for history, the reports, and the future. The present is ever our own for the making, am I right?

Swirling her tea, Sophistria fell into silence. She was looking out the nearby window as she did.

Security huh? Maybe Nin is right. We wouldn't any suspicious characters sneaking into Ordnung's room...

 

[Raid Boss]

"I believe that would work." Accelerator responded before he continued, "speaking of... my room is right this way."

The blue-haired magia guided the two downstairs to his dark and gloomy room where they can take care of the measurement away from the commotions elsewhere in the house.

@Luthien @Ash Vargold​

 

[Ash Vargold]

...that green-haired girl looked familiar. Ash squinted at Nin as she passed, trying to figure out where he'd seen her, but all he came up with was a foggy sense of fear...

Ash Vargold @Luthien
i guess it could be ptsd. still feels weird
god i'm glad magia didn't exist when I started

Ash followed dutifully as Accelerator led them to his room. His nose wrinkled as they got close - the smell of a depression nest was all too familiar.

"...ah. I see."

"Well, just let me know what you need me to do. It's why I'm here, after all.

 

[Raid Boss]

Comms have now been updated to Cycle 3.

 

[Luthien]

Depression nest indeed, but any thoughts she held about it remained unspoken as Lúthien moved towards the window. Sunlight was allowed into the room as the curtains were pulled, and a refreshing verdant breeze fluttered into the room shortly after opening it.

"Alright, let's get this over with before more interruptions happen~" She wouldn't make a guess on how many people were downstairs, though Lúthien was certain the answer was a lot, and sooner or later the tinkerer would finally remember what today was supposed to be all about. "Forget the door Ash, think you can help freshen up the room a bit while I work?"

A measuring tape appeared from thin air along with a small notebook and pen, the blonde grinning at the magia before instructing him on how to stand and hold his arms as she started jotting down all the necessary things.

@Accelerator | @Ash Vargold​

"Three... Two... One..." The tinkerer finally bursted into Accelerator's room as in on cue, the blonde chuckling as she finished jotting down the last measurements before her stuff disappeared back into the void of the UI inventory. "Was starting to think you'd forgotten all about us, Clari~"

The magia was quickly whisked away towards the living room, finally giving Ash and Lúthien a moment to speak in private. "PTSD is a good guess. A lot happened in a short time, and we've all had to adjust... hopefully whatever funk he's been having won't stick around for long." She joined in the efforts to leave his room better than they'd found it, aware that sometimes it was the little things that could have the most impact.

"Come on, let's see what fresh hell Clarissa has forced upon the Headmaster today~" After all her hearing was good, and the walls here were thin...

@Accelerator | @Ash Vargold | @Clarissa​

​

There were plenty of new faces present as the pair finally came downstairs, but none stuck out quite as much as the tigress wrapped in golden threads for the evening.

"Oh my, looking purrfect today Harper~" She purred out a compliment towards the fighter, a mischievous glint in her eyes as she looked at her friend, though the smile Lúthien wore showed it was all in good fun. "Should've told me we were dressing to impress today, Clari."

@Clarissa | @Harper​

A hand quickly rose to her mouth as Lúthien tried to stifle a chuckle upon spotting Ordnung in the rocking chair, while the adorable Emme made grabby hand motions towards the Headmaster.

{ Sorry sweetheart, can I borrow him for a bit? } Her voice cooed softly into the babe's mind, a playful wink sent her way once @Emme finally spotted her, before Lúthien's attention turned to the dear old grandpa next to Chako.

"Y'know, the gossip around the halls of MITHRA was that you're very skilled when it comes to potions and whatnot, Ordnung..." There's a lilt to her voice as she speaks out loudly enough to be heard against the bussing chatter in the living room, a smirk dancing on her lips as she singled out the Headmaster—while graciously providing him an out from the present situation he was in. "Can't help but wonder if that skill translates to other things... like mixology perhaps?How about it, old man~?"

She didn't know the person currently mixing drinks in the kitchen, but hopefully her bait would lure both men into a little fun demonstration today. "How about it old man, care to show us how it's done~?"

Persuasion Results: (42, 38)​

@Ivan | @Ordnung​

 

[Ash Vargold]

As Ash prepped for the fitting job he was suddenly the primary tailor on, he glanced towards "Accelerator" with a frown.

"...quite the story, all that. I thought there was something different about you."

"I mean, I know a little bit about masks, but that Accelerator didn't seem like the sort that needed one."

What he wanted to say was '"he seemed like an unrepentant asshole", but there was something about the wet cat of a man in the living room that made him hold.

"...makes me wonder how much of him is left in you."

@Raid Boss

 

[Raid Boss]

"A large part, I reckon. It feels like his consciousness is entirely contained behind a dam and it's only some time that parts of him break through. Like the memories, which have been playing in bits and pieces when I sleep at night. I don't know who the owner of his body was before the merge and it doesn't seem like the headmaster knows either." Accelerator turned toward Ordnung who nodded his head in agreement.

"When we were inside MITHRA, the red-haired Aristocrata agent who held EVE's Handler Authority took control of my consciousness and the moment the headmaster told me to relinquish control, I was told that Accelerator came out then. Although there have been talks of reproducing that condition, the headmaster thought the risks outweighs the pros, since Accelerator might take over and become the dominant consciousness."

@Ash Vargold​

Ordnung scribbled his thoughts on the page of his notebook in response. "It's far too risky. The Lions brought his body in and it was torn open and the core was cracked, and all his limbs were removed and disabled. Normal individuals do not get harmed in such a way. This Accelerator could be someone immensely dangerous, we best manage our risks and keep Acelios as the dominant consciousness."

"There is some kind of compulsion that drives this body. I would like to learn more about it, but that is a faraway goal for the time being, seeing as how I can't even regulate the concept of human emotions." He sighed.

 

[Chako]

Chako couldn't quite hear what was being said around her right now, but judging by the conversation she heard so far, it was probably complicated, so she didn't care.

More importantly though, why was miss Clarissa poking her? "Yes?" And then suddenly she was taking little Emmie's out of her arms!? "T-take proper care of her!"

And Emmie was then given to... Who was this other girl? A doctor? She... Didn't seem to know how to properly handle little Emmie though... "T-that's not how you change a diaper!" Chako was feeling about to explode.

She was starting to hear better though, so as soon as the maybe-doctor-girl said something about higher child care value than her, Chako immediately grabbed Emmie again, "Look at you... Don't worry though. Auntie Chako will get you changed right up!"

And then Chako immediately headed to the bathroom where she could properly clean Emmie up, grab a new diaper, and do her best to not make Emmie start crying for being exposed for too long like that! What if Emmie got a cold!? How could the maybe-doctor be so irresponsible!?

Then when she came back... The gramps was gone? But Emmie wanted the rocking chair... Well, she probably forgot about it by now, but Chako was not giving up on giving Emmie what she wanted!

So... Chako casually used her tails to put aside the gramps notebook, "Can someone deliver this back to gramps? He seems to have forgotten it." and then sat down on the rocking chair with Emmie on her lap, and went back to focusing on the important part, making little Emmie smile! "How is it? Do you like this? Do you like the rocking of the rocking chair?" Maybe she could suggest to miss Clarissa to buy those rocking chairs for babies later... Do those exist in Arcia? Chako didn't really know.

 

[Ash Vargold]

Ash glanced at Ordnung's scribbled words. God his handwriting sucked.

"So you did the mad scientist equivalent of plugging a random USB you found into your computer? Do you guys have any concept of IT fundamentals...?"

"So that's what you meant by bleedover. I was wondering. Kind of thought it was the other way around, though."

If the blood thing was coming from the player, then Ash was inclined to agree with Ordnung.

"...anyway, welcome to the human-adjacent condition, I guess? Don't worry, us fleshbags aren't much better when it comes to emotional regulation"

 

[MAI]

MAI glanced at @Ash Vargold, who was very competently, and therefore somewhat frustratingly taking the lead on questioning Accelerator and Ordnung. Perhaps the magenta-haired magia ought to disappear from this place? It was getting a bit too social for her liking... but she wanted to circle back to something that she overheard.

"Recounting - "Every time I tried to access it, it crowds my mind with credential error. I'm sorry I'm not able to help with that.""

"Observation - Our adversary had attempted to enter the dragonhead as well, without success. Deriver from this is- even the handler's directive did not provide sufficient credentials."

"Following - Both of the keychilds were created with the explicit purpose of opening the gate to the dragonhead. Presumably, the necessary permissions may lie with Emmie..."

@Raid Boss

 

[Raid Boss]

The golden child babbled in discomfort when Nin held her. The green-haired girl was cold, almost freezing so, as that what it felt like to Emmie. She struggled to get out of Nin's hands, threatening to cry with her scrunched up face. Nin truly lacked the touch of a mother if Emmie preferred the 30-year old grampa on the rocking chair.

"Uwahh-!!!"

Thankfully, after Clarissa ran over and took the baby off of the young researcher's hands, she poked Chako and passed the infant over, gesturing for Chako to take it from there. Emmie's beady eyes and tiny hands reached for the felis for comfort the same way she reached for Clarissa. After Chako took her off to get a diaper change, it was clear that the infant had biological needs unlike typical magia, further muddying things.

When they came back, Emmie was still wet in the eyes, until Chako sat on the chair and rocked her back and forth. The infant's frown immediatrely turned into an excited giggle as she clung onto Chako's maid attire for support amid the rocking.

"Ugaaaah!!!" she squealed happily.

@Chako @Pandora*​

Accelerator looked at the caenis and thought to himself before responding, "huh... I assumed it is something to be mastered since the headmaster doesn't exhibit any of the emotional traits that are readily seen like others, but perhaps this is an individual thing. It would be best to make a mental note of this..."

His eyes were clouded in thoughts until MAI entered the conversation.

"Yes. I do believe she will help us unlock what lies within the ship. Although I do believe it's best to not rush that process since- Ah, appologies, I didn't mean to imply that you were treating her like a tool." the blue-haired magia caught himself.

@Ash Vargold @MAI​

"Alright, young man. It's time for a haircut and a new you," France cut Accelerator's conversation short as he spun the magia around and lifted his overgrown bang.

"Kihihi-" Clarissa giggled deviously as she blindfolded the magia.

"You're not allowed to look at your own transformation, Mister. When you open your eyes, you're going to be a completely different person and with that comes an entire new perspective!"

France has a twinkle in his eyes and both he and Clarissa held up hairdressing tools. Whether or not they know how to use them, however, is a completely different conversation.

"Let's get started, Miss Clare, hair doesn't cut itself you know?"

France hovered closer in tandem with Clarissa, the sparkle in their eyes pulsing bigger to Accelerator's sweating dismay.

 

[MAI]

Before Nin left, MAI tried to stop her for a brief moment. She did attend to a matter that the magia brought up earlier, after all. If Chako had no answers, then perhaps someone as capable as the mathematician would.

"Request - Would the MIT and/or Nin directly be willing to share any and all data gathered about the Keychild? This unit is heavily invested in her development and future."

@Pandora*