victory_road | ANOMALY DETECTED

Leviathan - Compass Points
[One may wonder if a new librarian came with the library. That is impossible, but it seems someone here is still attempting the enormous task of taking inventory of the entire collection, a tall woman in her late 30s armed with pen, notebook, and a ...

...

Is that Giratina. Has she roped pokemon Satan into helping her do this. Why is she here. Why is it carrying her books. What is Happening, and why? Giratina is so large it's actually mostly just knocking things off shelves for her to have to re-sort and put back, creating a kind of recursive activity that's kept them in the same location for the last thirty minutes.

This pleases the chaos demon. Intervene at your own peril.]

B. Budehuc Castle - Second Floor Library
[Continuing with the theme, Misaki is here in this library too, searching through the books for information on the world she's wound up in. She is not being tailed by the Great Satan here, but a Galarian Meowth prowls around near her, looking for ankles to chomp, and a Charmander dozes not far off, tail held out to provide light for it's apparent trainer. Whether or not you fall victim to Meowth, eventually she just holds a hand out to whoever approaches.]

Hand me that book.

[No please or how do you do or anything, huh?]

C. Any Route
[Of course, when she is not being an absolutely unholy terror, Misaki has wandered out into the world to see what this is all about. After summoning a meteor on a weedle or two, she has decided that using magic on pokemon is unnecessarily mean, and is trying to sort out how to battle with that Meowth and Charmander. It's going...some kind of way.]

...Must we really speak these move names aloud?

[Cringe. It's cringe. She is an old lady why are you making her do things she'd have unironically loved the fuck out of when she was 18. She still loves it. Do not let her fool you.]

D. Wildcard
I am testing this girl out, so if you don't see anything you like, please feel free to dm this journal or hit me up at

moepuff!

[That's a quirk he'd never seen before. Fire, sure, but that was a giant flaming rock, and that's far more interesting, so for a little bit Misaki has been being watched, from a safe distance, by a thoroughly unkempt but clean late-teen in black, accompanied by an equally unkempt looking pidgey perched on one shoulder.

Once she switches to pokemon battling the way that actually gets the pokemon exp, they get significantly closer, but are apparently too polite(cough) to interrupt until she speaks up and to his ears sounds unhappy.]

Yeah.

[The response is a dry rasp, and the pidgey nods firmly alongside Tomura's response, bobbing a bit as it does so.]

It's just a game, so don't over think it and kick that weedle's ass. ...With your pokemon, they don't get experience otherwise.

...I think my children played something like this.

[She sighs, but she does pause to look over Tomura. This child....looks kind of like they got left in a gutter. Hm. She doesn't like that. But overt concern is beneath her...and might spook them, anyway.]

Very well. Use ember, Fafnir. It seems vulnerable enough to fire.

[Shigaraki played something like this!

He just can't quite put his finger on which one specifically. It wasn't this one exactly he knows that.]

Probably. They were super popular for a while. Big one these days is Monster Hero Battler X-Treem 6, but it's pay to win and the only players who get anywhere are the ones who cough up cash to get their hands on Sun Phoenix All-Might.

[By his tone he does NOT approve. He adjusts his gloves a bit before shoving his hands in his pocket, eyeing the charmander. Fafnir, huh?]

They like it if you sound enthusiastic. Gets you hearts and stuff. Just starting out?

[He has exactly one pokemon, he TOO is just starting out, probably.]

[Misaki just kind of...blankly stares into the middle distance. When she was Shiragaki's age...

Well when she was Shiragaki's age the entire world ended because of an MMO, so maybe bad example.]

My usual partners are quite capable of acting without needing spoken commands. This seems tactically unsound--ah, there you go.

[She wasn't wrong about Ember just decimating that poor Weedle, though. Good job, Fafnir!]

It's not about 'tactics' in this case. It's about playing by the rules, which is usually bullshit, but if you want to win their prizes you gotta do it by their terms. You can't just let your pet monster do everything for you.

[Shigaraki has Opinions about MMOs. More about gachas, but the world hadn't ended because of one yet where he's from. He jerks his chin towards the charmander, and the now flame broiled weedle.]

If he can do it all himself, what good are you? But the critter needs the experience, so you gotta participate somehow. Teamwork, power of friendship, all that idiotic stuff.

You're a little young for a nihilist.

[Misaki, you were younger. But she shakes her head a bit.]

So they're children and pack hunters. That's fair enough. But rules are meant to be broken, so I suppose it's time to find out how well they learn hand signals.

You have no idea.

[Like everything else, it's a dry and unpleasant rasp; his voice isn't ever going to be nice to listen to. There is an irritated, put-upon sounding sigh as she declares rules are meant to be broken - ordinarily he'd agree, but in video games that shit is hardwired in, and without cheat codes such defiance isn't going to get anywhere.

She didn't look like she had cheat codes.]

Hand signals are active participation, lady. You're not being some rule breaker by using them. Modern RPGs are already rigged for sign languages, for ... inclusion, or whatever. You gotta know something about games.

[People told her physics was hardwired into the universe, too, and see how that ended up.

Two apocalypses, Shigaraki, TWO.]

Well, I could just go back to doing it with my bare hands, but there are limits to the amount of animal cruelty I'm willing to inflict, even on fictional ones.

Good thing Geddoe's still in the habit of wearing tall, sturdy boots. That Meowth can certainly try to go for his ankles!

Still, when Geddoe found the castle here and found it empty, he certainly wasn't expecting to find anyone else. He probably should have, given that it's apparently one of those 'weird weekends', but even he can't think of everything. He does, however, raise an eyebrow at the demand made when he steps into the room.

"... Which one?"

There's a lot of books, she has to be more specific! Also, Geddoe happens to have what's more or less his world's equivalent of a lightning god embedded in his gloved right hand. Just the sort of thing that someone with really high magical senses might possibly pick up on.

Edited 2022-11-26 21:14 (UTC)

[Yeah. Misaki's head snaps up the second Geddoe speaks, and she turns to look at him.

Possibly also because, yes, the meowth is trying to chew through his boot. She grimaces a bit.]

...Gremlin, you're going to break your teeth. Stop that.

[But as to the original question--] Red cover with the embossed lettering, if you will.

[Once he brings it to her, she can get a look at that hand.]

[ooc: hi! I'm sticking to action tags due to some bad arthritis this weekend, please feel free to tag however is most comfortable to you, though!]

Gremlin, huh? That's actually kind of amusing, though Geddoe keeps that thought to himself. It's just that he happens to know a guy with a rat Pokemon by that name, and here's a cat named the same.

He does grab the book in question though, because why not? But if she's hoping to get a good look at his hand, well, he's wearing gloves. They can't hide the sheer latent magical power underneath, but it definitely would make it hard to get a visual.

"Trying to find something in particular?"

[She grabbed his wrist, actually. If his hand reacts to other power--she is contracted to something dark.]

I was hoping to find more information about this world...but this building doesn't seem to be native, either.

Now that's a downright audacious move. So much so that Geddoe actually isn't prepared to stop her from doing it. He is, however, very quick to react, because that is very much Not Okay.

So rather than responding to her remark, his left hand is now grabbing her wrist, while he gives a sharp twist and pull with his right to break free. Fist closed so that he doesn't lose the glove in the process. And while none of his motions are deliberately cruel or intended to hurt, he's not making any extra effort to be gentle, either.

"Don't."

His expression and tone are dead serious; there's people out there who'd happily kill him to get their hands on that rune, so he treats any attempt on it as a potentially deadly threat. Luckily, True Lightning itself doesn't seem perturbed: it doubtless senses the presence of another power, but doesn't do more than merely stir. A fact that Geddoe notices, even if he doesn't visibly acknowledge it.

Which is all to say, this lady has exactly one chance to attempt to explain herself before Geddoe considers her hostile and dangerous. Better make it good!

Ohh, touchy!

[Misaki, the dumbest genius, with not even the self-preservation instinct any god ever gave a goldfish, laughs. She is skilled enough to twist her hand free from his, and if he hurt her she doesn't indicate it, but her right eye is glowing a little, from the sigil inscribed into her literal pupil.]

I suppose that's to be expected, from someone wearing Lightning on your skin...of course you'd bite. If you're worried about curiosity, you should really do something to mask the power instead of just wearing gloves.

Geddoe, simply glowers at her. He's not going for a weapon just yet, but he's definitely poised to react if need be. So far it sounds like she might just be an overly curious fool, but he hasn't lived as long as he has by taking chances.

Really though, were he not so on edge, he would have been sorely tempted to roll his eye at that comment.

"I hadn't noticed," he says with frigid, deadpan sarcasm. "And unless you're looking for trouble, you might try asking."

Looking for trouble?

[She laughs again, harsher and more akin to a cackle. Her shadows grow long and too unnaturally dark to be normal.]

My dear, I married trouble.

On the one hand, she's clearly a bit crazy, which means there's likely to be little actual ill intent. On the other hand, she's clearly a bit crazy and that in itself can make her dangerous in other ways. Especially if she's powerful in her own right.

"Then you can keep it to yourself," he says curtly. He's naturally wary and already considering ways out of here if things turn unpleasant, of course, but he's not exactly easily intimated.

Oh, but there's no learning about anything that way?

[She laughs a bit more, but if he's not attacking she sees no need to defend herself either, so the elongating shadows cease.]

I admit the temporo-spacial distortions are more interesting than the magic you grafted to your hand, but answers about the latter seem like they'll be more readily available.

Geddoe just crosses his arms, glowering with his one good eye.

"Not like that they won't."

He can tell by her choice of words and phrasing that she must clearly not be from his world. She doesn't know what a True Rune actually is, nor apparently why a runebearer would take such a brazen attempt to 'examine' it as an attack. Which doesn't make it any less rude, of course, but still.

So defensive...

[She huffs a bit, but she does have the dignity not to pout. Outwardly.]

Rude. Shouldn't you humor your elders?

[...Elder? Madam you stopped aging in your 30s.]

Given that Geddoe's a good seven decades or so older than he looks, that's a good one, yeah.

"No."

Blunt and to the point. He's not feeling inclined to be diplomatic just now.

"Shouldn't you ask instead of attacking someone?"

Because yes, grabbing at his hand with no warning like that arguably is an attack.

Does 'just asking' work out for you?

[She is skeptical of any approach that relies on the generosity and goodwill of others, inherently.]

"It's usually better than leading with force, yes."

Who said anything about goodwill? Geddoe simply sees value in keeping negotiations civil, for quite a few reasons. Even if he sure looks more the type who's well-acquainted with negotiations at swordpoint.

"A lot less risky, too."

That's not a threat, but it is a warning. He won't hesitate to defend himself if it seems necessary.

"Less risky" is an illusion I don't have the time to bother with.

[She snorts a bit. She doesn't believe in the manners of others. Can't be surprised if you're always ready to fight.]

This wasn't really what I'd have called force.

ANOMALY DETECTED

Misaki "Night" Yamazaki | Original | OTA

Some Route Or Other

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i am so sorry about her

it's fine Geddoe's overdue for some excitement :D

she is just the Worst

so long as she's not a sadist causing wars for shits and giggles it should be fine. probably.

w e l l about that...

oh dear, is Geddoe's extremely short list of "problems to put down" going to have to get longer?

in her defense that apocalypse was already happening without her?

depends on whether she made it worse on purpose for her own amusement, really...

no that would have been her father

well that's certainly a role model

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in which Geddoe finally opts for the most sensible course of action.... XD