balance_logs | Welcome Participartypants

Who: All y'all nerds
Where: The Arena
When: The night of the 15th
What: A small gathering to both welcome new members to the Bureau, and to congratulate veteran Reclaimers on their successful magic mitten procurement. Dress is as fancy or as not fancy as you want it. Manners, to the degree of which you are capable, are mandatory.
Content Warning: General content warning for the Reclaimers. Also general content warning for Miss Zarves

	Formal, informal, never mind the dress code.
	NAVIGATION

It's been two weeks since the Reclaimers returned, and since the newest Reclaimers arrived. Some of you have adapted better than the Director could have hoped, and some of you have made your best efforts to find a new sense of normalcy — testing Bender the food robot to his limits, forming book clubs, training together, musing over what sort of fashions one even wears to a party.

Some of you, perhaps, have spent a little bit too much time in the simulation at the Dojo. It's understandable. Adjusting to the idea that your entire universe has been destroyed takes time, and sometimes, escapes are necessary.

And tonight, she's hoping to provide you with a temporary escape with this party.

1. ONCE UPON A TWO WEEKS' WEARY

A. TO WASH AWAY THE ACHING BLEARY

The Director, using the Moon Base's simulation technology, has turned the Arena into a ballroom to behold. The sprawling hall is decorated in ornate wooden carvings, and a large maple floor meant for dancing is encircled by tables and a large banquet table.

In the corner, on a raised platform, stands a baby grand piano, freshly tuned and polished. Anyone is free to have a spin on it, if the mood strikes. At some point during the evening, Johann the Bard, violin in hand, will stand on the platform and provide a performance that could only ever be heard on the Moon Base, among members of the Bureau of Balance — because he did, after all, give this particular song to the Voidfish.

If you would like something with a heavier beat, there's a tablet on the wall next to the platform, where you can make music requests of your own, from the Artificer's collection of songs from across the universe. The collection may not be all that extensive, but The Cupid Shuffle is probably in there.

Get down and boogie, is what we're saying.

B. THEY WERE THROWN A BANQUET CHEERY

And what's on the banquet table? Snacks provided by Bender, of course — which means they could have any manner of magical effects. Here are some of the snacks available, including one that the Director was lucky enough to roll for herself.

Cupcakes of every flavor imaginable, utterly delicious — so delicious, in fact, that whoever eats one will have flowers grow in their footsteps for the next two hours. The flowers are magic and disappear on their own, so go turn the dance floor into a garden (Courtesy of Lion).
Mead that puts you in such a good mood, you'll be unable to resist the urge to sing in whatever measure of talent you have (Courtesy of Lancelot).
An energy drink that will literally give you wings for two hours. Enjoy looking absolutely angelic for your friends (Courtesy of Akechi).
Nachos that have a curiously JPG quality to them, but no other magical effects (Courtesy of Terezi).
The most delicious cheeseburgers you ever did taste (Courtesy of Maya).
Finger sandwiches that, when eaten, light up your entire body in an assortment of different colors — the light trails behind your movements, like the way lights look on a low shutter speed. Enjoy the raving (courtesy of The Director).

2. BUT THEN, SHE ROSE FROM THE ICHOR

Some of you may have heard a thing or two about Miss Zarves — perhaps the rumors circulating around town, or the strange connection to Garfield and the Bracer Chasers some of you may have bought to decorate your Bracers. Maybe words like "catalyst" and "Ouija Board" have come up once or twice.

Because there is a being trapped in a plane of existence right next to yours, largely forgotten, as if she had somehow been reverse Voidfish'd. Forgotten, that is, until the Bracer Chasers — curiously laced with high amounts of aluminadium, a word that might sound familiar to McCree and Faolan. For two years, she's waited, and watched, wanting a chance to be seen again, to speak with the Bureau herself once again, cursed with a maddening loneliness.

And the second one of those cute decorations was pressed against a Bracer, Miss Zarves had it — her catalyst. She would know, after all: She was once a leading researcher on using catalysts to travel through dimensions, after all — and the Bracer Chasers were one of her original designs.

At the very end of the party, perhaps one or two piano songs away from shutdown, the simulation suddenly shuts down. The lights blink off with a systemwide shudder. After five seconds, the lights flare back to life, and the entire Arena is its default white blank slate. And a message, from username @Zarves❤Scarves, slowly blinks across the screen.

Hello. I would like to play a game.

And then the Arena goes dark.

A. HACKER VOICE: I'M IN

That little stunt isn't the only one Miss Zarves, who now has a connection to the dimension you're residing in and some of the Bureau tech, is going to pull. For the rest of your stay at the Moon Base, until you're whisked away to the next mission (Or unless you figure out a way to stop her), you may experience some of the following:

Wonky simulations: You may have been traveling to the Dojo to recall a certain piece of your home world. And maybe one day, while you're minding your own business, that same simulation may suddenly appear outside the Dojo. Or perhaps you're wandering down a hallway, and you come across a mishmash of other people's simulations, torn apart and stitched back together haphazardly.
Bender: As if this guy weren't a big enough mess already. If you happen to ask Bender for one of the items that were available at the party, you may instead be given food that has the opposite effect. Think cupcakes that leave behind wilted plants, mead that makes you cry uncontrollably, or energy drinks that not only do not give you literal wings, but put you straight to sleep.
If you happen to have a subscription to Webflix, regardless of what movie you pick to watch, it'll pick a specific movie instead: Santa Claus Conquers the Martians. Also, you won't be able to turn it off.

3. AND THEN THINGS JUST KEEP GETTING WORSE

The arena's simulation has decided to take a sabbatical, a spectral being from another plane of existence has invaded the Moon Base, and Madame Director is doing her best to keep the room calm and collected. First, the darkness needs to be handled with properly, so with a stomp of her elegant white oak staff down on the floor, a sound echoes above and beyond any panicked shouts, and soon the room is filled with dancing lights that emanate from the four cardinal directions of the arena.

"Ladies and gentlemen! Excuse me. Thank you everyone for coming to this enchanted evening here with your fellow Reclaimers, but without proper lighting- Johann, Johann, please, I don't need signature music right now, this isn't a wrestling match for crying out- thank you, Johann. As I was saying- unfortunately, this evening's events will have to be---"

Almost right on cue, as if there wasn't a possibly worse time in the world for this to happen, the doors of the arena bust open. Into the room swarms a dragonborn, looking rather beat up and worse for wear. It's impossible to tell if Dragonborn can cry the way humans can cry, but her amphibian-like eyes shine oddly in the colors of the magical lights surrounding the room. The Director's eyes go wide for a moment, this was rather- no, extremely, unsuspected.

The Regulator approaches the Director. "We found him! Lucretia, we found him! And h-he. That son of a bitch has Killian!"

And lacking in the proper finesse that's demanded of her as a leader, she rubs her forehead. "Carey, come with me to my office and we'll sort this out." She looks around the room, her Reclaimers all gathered and standing, watching this interaction take place. "Please, everyone, return to your apartments for the evening."

A. TWO WEEKS UNTIL ROLLOUT

The Director hasn't slept a wink throughout the night, dealing with a host of problems facing the Bureau at the moment. She consults with the clerics on how to get rid of this ridiculous joke-entity that Garfield has proliferated long enough. She speaks with Carey about all the details she can offer, attempting to calm her down, despite her unraveled state. Killian means the world to Carey, after all, and the Director, no- Lucretia, was waiting for the wedding invitation for far too long.

Sometime around mid-day, the Reclaimers will receive a message on their bracer from her.

Reclaimers, we will deploying in approximately two weeks. We've discovered the location of a relic that we haven't heard about in quite some time now. A full briefing will be provided at a later date, but please prepare accordingly. The area you all will be assigned to is known as the Netheril, a vast desert that splits the continent in half between the western and eastern fronts.

We've instructed the tailors to offer special clothing designs that are particularly good for protection against sand and heat — at a heavily discounted price.

Ensure that you have a weapon, as there's no telling what sort of beasts you can encounter out in such a wasteland. Train intensively over the next few days. We anticipate that it will be quite some time before you are able to return to Base, so please ensure that your BIAS is restocked and ready to go.

Two weeks.

blurb code by photosynthesis

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Oof!!

[She bumps into him, not expecting him to just stop like that, and lets out a quiet, drawn-out pouting noise as she has to take a half-step back to stare up at him.

Really, he shouldn't want to be friends with her. But she shoves that clawing panic way down deep inside and just puffs her cheek out a little more.]

Why wouldn't I want to be friends with you?

[SEE that was unpleasant, wasn't it, that's what happens when you hang out with a loser like him!!!]

What d'you mean why? I just told you, I ain't a good guy. What more reason do you need?

[Oh no, she bumped into him, and he probably didn't even budge. The worst, such hardship, she'll faint dead away.]

Hmmm...

[She leans up on tiptoe so she can look him in the eye as if searching for something. What, even she doesn't know; it's not like it'll say I'm a bad person written on his eyeballs in tiny font.

Whatever she sees, she lowers herself back down, heels making a decisive click against the dancefloor.]

I just don't think a bad guy would tell me he's bad.

[Curse your sound and reasonable logic!! Shinjiro makes a vaguely strangled sound in his throat and takes half a step back, as though shrinking away from whatever she's looking at.]

I'm just...! I'm just--warning you, okay? There's no point wasting your time on me.

Edited (hmm i like this icon better) 2019-02-08 00:36 (UTC)

...

[There's a beat, then-- she laughs. It's a helpless snort, and she has to pull her hand back from his bicep to cover her mouth, shaking with quiet giggles.]

S-Sorry, I just... you look so scary, but you're being so nice.

[She can't help but laugh.]

[...And now she's? Laughing???

Even more hilariously his whole face starts to flush again, this time actually from embarrassment.]

H-hey! I-it's not funny??? I-I-I'm being serious here! Stop laughing!

[He's dying, again. Bury him now. Here lies Aragaki Shinjiro, who survived gunshot wounds and the apocalypse and died of cute girl laughing at him.]

[His embarrassed flush just makes her laugh harder, the hand covering her lips doing absolutely nothing to stifle it.]

I-I'm sorry, Aragaki-kun!!

[She gives up trying to hide her giggles, instead patting the air with her hand to try to calm him down.]

I'll be careful, okay? But with that kind of argument, I'm definitely gonna cut those words and prove you wrong. So I'm still gonna be your friend, no matter what.

[There's a Moment or so where a sort of tension hangs in the air as he's poised to argue, but then ... it ends, just like that. Like a marionette whose strings have been cut, he seems to slump, ducking his head in and looking off to the side. Eventually, he sighs, resigned to his new apparent fate.]

I guess I ain't got a chance, huh? ...Don't regret it, then.

[You deserve a better friend than me, he thinks, but what can he do? He's not capable of the cruelty it would take to truly drive her away. And honestly .... he just doesn't want her to get hurt. Being attached to him can be a painful thing, after all.]

I'm sure I won't.

[Qrow can talk all she wants about how she trusts too easily, but in Shinjiro's case, she refuses to think that someone would try so hard to push her away, would warn her that he's no good, if he truly weren't a good person.

She squeezes the hand she still has hostage and returns her other to his bicep, her bright smile fading into something smaller, but no less sincere.]

If you ever want to try to give me a good argument about why we shouldn't be friends, I'll listen. But... I'm pretty sure there's not a lot you can say to change my mind. Okay?

[He could tell her about October 4th. About Persona, about Ken's mother, about Strega, but he doubts it would matter. It'd be the same as it always is, with Aki asking him things like when is he going to stop beating himself up about and how it's been two years, and everything he's already heard too many times.

At least Qrow was honest, when he said it'd haunt him forever, but he should try to make something of his life anyway -- even if he's not sure if he agrees.]

...Okay.

[He can't say he understands what a nice girl like her sees in him, but ... he's been trying to keep himself going, here. He doesn't have anything to give her but he can try not to be the one that hurts her, at the very least. Even that feels like it might be heavy enough to crush him where he stands, but nonetheless, he puts his hand back on her back, and tries to follow her steps.]

Welcome Participartypants

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i cannot believe you're making me upload this icon, jade

you deserve this, perish

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