CYOA: Ace, Jolyne, Lillium

[becomemod]

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OCTOBER 16TH — DAY 01

[unsync]

TEXT THREADS

[unsync]

[ For all of your phone- and AI-based cross-communications. ]

[unsync]

From Boss:

Remember to stay in touch with each other where you can, it pays to have everybody on the same page.

Your AI-Balls can access the database, so use what resources you have.

[selfimmolation]

Beat up a guy setting up balloons. Can someone come pick him up?

Here's what the card said.

Guy was wearing a jacket from Naixatloz. Sabo says it's also known as NAIX, that it's a global ideological society with its main headquarters in New York, USA, and they have a Japan Branch in Tokyo.

Think we might wanna visit those guys after we get those balloons?

I'm taking lunch now! ☆

[perennation]

found this at the department store.

so they're a big church or something? weird to come out of New York of all places. is there a reason to visit them?

[selfimmolation]

the guy was wearing their logo and setting up puzzles ?

[perennation]

this at the orphanage.

[floridas]

[ sends a picture from the shrine! ]

DAHLIA BOAT

[unsync]

This world is a game

and I want to play with you.

Video

[ Epilepsy warning, and also just kind of general kinda freaky warning. ]

[unsync]

NIRVANA

GATHER

MASSACRE

NAIXATLOZ

OPEN INVESTIGATION

[unsync]

[ I don't have a cool mystery icon to CYOA runner tags with, you can just have the back of his head.

Anyway good morning! On your usual Thursday, you'll come to and realise that you're not standing in Oceanside anymore. Probably? You're in an immensely cluttered office with far too many trinkets. The air is somewhat stale, and you somehow understand that it's because you're several floors underground. Of course you'd know, you took the elevator down after all.

You understand that you are rookie agents of the organisation known as ABIS, a special sector of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department. And you also understand that the woman in front of you, snapping her fingers and waving her hand in front of your face to get your attention, is your Boss.

Boss

Hello? Are you listening?
Did you get enough sleep last night?
You better have, because we're going to need you today.

You have some memory of your life in Oceanside, but it's very distant and you don't feel too attached to it or disoriented being here. Maybe you just had an odd dream? No matter, right now you're being assigned something and that takes precedence.

Boss

So, as I was saying...
As you know, a corpse was discovered in Studio Dvaita last night.
I know you three are still rookies, but I think this could be a great chance for you guys to try taking the lead and grow into your own a little bit.
You can't just stay ugly ducklings forever, after all.

To the right side of the room are three figures you will recognise as your superiors -- Hung, Luffy, and Iris, who give you a little wave of acknowledgment. They're just there to talk to, exchanging trading cards, taking snacks from Hung's pockets, etc.

Boss

While I can give you pointers on where to start, since this is your case, I want you to figure it out between yourselves.
You can head out once you have everything ready.
And I don't need to tell you this, but don't forget your AI-Balls. You're going to need them to keep in touch.

On the table are six things, two for each of you -- a standard issue weapon, and a weird little thing that looks like an eyeball encapsulated in a transparent material. See Aiba for reference. One is green-eyed with a form that seems phytoplankton-like, another is blue-eyed with a silhouette that somewhat mimics aristocratic clothes complete with a gooey tophat, and the last is black-eyed with a nebulous but perhaps almost feline shape, the eye stem white like a ribcage underneath. You understand that you had your left eye replaced with this thing ages ago, and it is your investigation aid. Their dialogue + interactions can largely be up to you to decide; see the AI Rules TL for what you can do with them.

Ace and Jolyne also get some neat gloves, which when activated has cool blue wiring and also turns into fists for punching. Lillium gets a little innocuous tube-looking thing that can flip out into a knife or extend into a baton as necessary. It also has cool blue lights when activated.

So, what do you do? Chat around a bit? Go right ahead to start discussing your investigation options? ]

[floridas]

[ well. first of all, flatly: ]

I resent being called an ugly duckling. [ she kind of lifts a hand to pat at her... left eye? hello? there's some concern in her brow, but she just tries to navigate as best she can. what do they need right now: (eyeballs) information. ] But... I'd be down for pointers. A briefing thingy? Is that what they call 'em?

[ she also glances over to where the three... superiors are standing and squints a little like? you're not the boss of me? what? since when did i fucking have any superiors or bosses? HUH!? she doesn't say it, it's just showing in her dumb face. anyways, jolyne will just approach? one of the little eyeball friends, in particular the phytoplanton-looking one and just kind of crouches down to have a look at them. she will reach over and just gently poke? poke poke? hello? softly: ]

Hey... you... are you ready to work too, I guess?

[selfimmolation]

You're definitely not ugly, but duckling doesn't sound wrong.

[ it's a reflexive (teasing) answer to Jolyne's complaint while he gets his bearings. right, they're here to... investigate, and that's normal. Normal enough. He picks up the gloves, first, putting them on (sparing a glance at Luffy and being torn between thinking yeah, sure, that's normal and thinking that there is no way he'd ever listen to Luffy, but maybe he is just a bad worker?) before turning to the...

the little goo thing feels familiar. it's his eye, now, and losing his left eye sounds about right, but he looks--it-- there's something churning at his stomach when he looks at it and that's going to be annoying so ace shakes it off.

You'd look more professional if you buttoned up your shirt, Sabo says, but in a tone that implies he seems to think it is great that Ace does not look professional, so Ace ignores him. ]

We should at least know a little about... the corpse that was found, right? Any word on what happened?

[ is there anything in the area they can interact with or analyze outside the glove and little AIs ]

YOYAGI PARK

[unsync]

[ Welcome to Yoyagi Park! It's bright and it's very pleasant, the green is alluring and naturally imbues you with an odd sense of calm.

In the distance, you can see trees, the fountain, some vending machines... a storage building of some kind. You see two people also skipping stones over the lake, which you're pretty sure is probably not something you should be allowed to do here, but who cares because --

Hana

D.va, one.
Wanna bet another dollar on one more try?

Rita

Ugh, whatever.
Skipping stones is for loser kids who're just bored, anyway.

Anyway, what to look at? Or how to look at? ]

[floridas]

[ wow, what a nice park, surely nothing terrible has happened here. jolyne watches hana and rita for like. a moment, because like oh... hey girls. she's just doing some stuff... some work... wish she could skip stones too, y'know...

stop dawdling.

ughhh fine, fine, let's look at things from a different perspective...

as she walks towards the /throws dart vending machines, she'll pause and have a look with her super special vr eyes to see if she can spot any sort of balloon-like/orb-like objects around? can she also just look at the vending machines? what's inside....... nosy... ]

TOKYO NATIONAL STADIUM

[unsync]

[ Welcome to Tokyo National Stadium! It sure is a stadium. Looks like it's closed today, so no one is here.

It's open, spacious, and almost a little ominous when it's like this. You see empty rows upon rows, and the track/field has been recently repainted. It all looks very crisp.

Where do you want to look? Or... how do you want to look? ]

[selfimmolation]

Where is everybody?

[ It's obviously closed, dumbass. DAMN. ALL BY MYSEEEEELF... DON'T WANNA BE...

well sabo is still with him. which is something. ]

Do you have "scan for balloons" in your arsenal? [ ace is going to use telescopic sight because this stadium area is huge and he wants to like. zoom in to see if he can find a damn balloon, sure. or if there is another better sight sabo would think of, that works too, but otherwise he'll also start walking through the rows in case it's hidden under a seat or something... ]

MISETAN DEPARTMENT STORE

[unsync]

[ Welcome to the Misetan Department Store! Your one stop shop for anything and everything you need, from the grocery stores below to multiple boutiques, a fantastic food court on the upper floors, and of course, the biggest allure: a rooftop amusement park, though it's seen less and less guests in recent years.

You find yourself drawn here, finding nothing of interest or suspicion on any of the inside floors when you inquire security. It's pretty sparse, but there's a few people hanging around...

In the distance, you hear some kids yelling. One of them looks kind of familiar, a bushy-haired kid with a weird split mouth, accosting a carnival worker in an Adorabbit costume who's putting up balloons. ]

[perennation]

[ Keep a look out for more balloon, okay?

HE HAS TO PRETEND TO BE NORMAL NOW THAT THERE ARE PEOPLE. Anyway, Lillium will walk like a regular civilian while looking for balloons, but catches up to...

the yelling children. Is this SUNNY? ]

AIOEN ORPHANAGE

[unsync]

[ Lillium can next head on over to Aioen Orphanage. He can have his nice Vegas car as his method of transport, which he can manually drive or his AI-Ball can do it for him. Isn't that convenient? Anyway, this place looks nice, has a kindergarten kind of energy to it. The large field is the playground, and has lots of playground-type things.

There are a few kids playing around. For a moment, you think two of them look familiar -- a boy with black hair, and his white-haired friend with a small tuft of white -- but one blink or a squint and it's obvious it's not them.

Alright, what're we looking at here? ]

[perennation]

[ NICO IS A TEENAGER HE WILL NOT BE DRIVING. Lillium will drive and instinctively he checks to make sure Iris isn't stowed away in the backseat or trunk.

Frowning at how it seems like he's seeing things, he will take a gander of the playground... Any balloons? He will also look for any staff to talk to here. ]

Got a directory for this orphanage to pull up their staff?

[ Profiles so he knows how many people he can maybe talk to... Recognize whoever owns this orphanage. ]

IKUME SHRINE

[unsync]

[ It's already the afternoon by the time Jolyne arrives here. The shrine is very peaceful, and also instills you with a latent sense of odd calm just by being here.

You're surrounded by trees on the perimeter of the shrine, and you see the fountain where you cleanse your hands to the left. There is the shrine up ahead past the path.

Where do you want to look? F.F. is looking up tour guide info about the Shrine meanwhile. ]

[floridas]

[ my fountain roadtrip, the weird sense of calm makes her prickly. there should be more noise here, maybe (it's a shrine) more noise. jolyne will pop on over to the fountain for hand cleansing and will kind of clumsily do it because her japanese dad never taught her jack shit.

while doing so, she gives f.f. a little mental poke. ]

Find anything interesting at all about this place, F.F.? [ since you're lookin' stuff up, my plankton in christ. does her ai ball have zoom in capabilities? can she look a bit closer at the shrine? any round shapes at all just floating among the trees as she walks towards the path leading to said shrine? ]

LATE LUNCH HOURS (DISCUSS?)

[unsync]

[ I guess you can hang out or rejoin here if you want to. ]

[perennation]

[ CAN THEY BE AT A COSTCO GETTING HOTDOGS ]