3 A1

[12:57] <PersonaGM> It is a rainy tuesday. School is over.
[12:57] <PersonaGM> Ai is alone, presumably with an umbrella.
[12:58] <PersonaGM> It is turn one.
[12:59] * Ai nod. For timing's sake… she's going to want to find the rumored detective phenomenon first, before he leaves. Smithson is likely to be at school longer.
[13:03] <PersonaGM> That's sensible
[13:05] <PersonaGM> How do you wish to find him?
[13:14] <Ai> hm. I imagine by…
[13:14] * Ai checks something
[13:15] <Ai> …
[13:15] <Ai> Yes.
[13:15] <Ai> :D
[13:16] <Ai> Ai is going to search for him by a combination of observation and recall on who's seen him and who's around him when he's seen… and the use of inception.
[13:16] <Ai> That is, briefly asking where the guy is then telepathy'ing if it's a stranger
[13:17] <Ai> "Hey have you seen that kid with the weird flask and detective-show act"
[13:17] <Ai> inception is more useful than interrogation :D
[13:18] <PersonaGM> :D
[13:18] <PersonaGM> Yay privacy :D
[13:18] <Ai> Scrutiny :D
[13:21] <Enker> To scrute
[13:21] <Enker> Scrute the inscrutable, eff with the ineffable
[13:22] <Ai> eff that
[13:22] <PersonaGM> Let me see…
[13:22] <PersonaGM> Aight, do Scrutiny with a +25 bonus
[13:33] <Ai> okay, belatedly
[13:34] <Ai> ,dhroll 70
[13:34] <Puppysnuggles> Ai: 48 Success by 2 degrees!
[13:34] <Ai> bam
[13:42] <PersonaGM> Ai succeeds. She begins scrutinising strangers about the Hard-Boiled Schoolboy, and using her telepathy to dredge clues up and out. Not everyone knows who Ai means, but generally she learns that he's usually seen alone, or interrupting others' conversations. A pair of schoolkids grump that he interrupted them on the bus home the other day… Which suggests that he takes a certain scheduled bus home from the school bus stop.
[13:44] <Ai> …So Ai should take this to mean then that she can catch him at the stop by crosschecking the schedule and hoping he gets there early. She may want to hide though.
[13:46] <PersonaGM> :E
[13:47] <PersonaGM> Will that be… A stealth test?
[13:49] <Ai> …Sure, m8
[13:49] <Ai> I got that skill
[13:49] <Ai> "Seriously am I the only urban ninja in this party? *shakes head*
[13:50] <Ai> years of irrepressable chuuni behavior made her willing to train her silent movement for this moment
[13:50] <Ai> she was always ready to be a magical superheroine
[13:51] <PersonaGM> pfft
[13:52] <PersonaGM> Ok. What's she going to try to hide behind?
[13:55] <PersonaGM> It can be a vague direction ('a bush') etc
[13:58] <Tao||out> hide exclusively behind other children
[13:59] <Ai> … oit
[14:41] <PersonaGM>
[14:00] <Ai> :D
[14:00] <Ai> near or on a building
[14:01] <Ai> (she's not gonna be quite so desperate as to fucking dash up one like in the theater though, she isn't fully sure if that works in real life and isn't about to confuse people other than a brief try)
[14:08] <PersonaGM> Aight, sounds good. Gimme stealth+10
[14:16] <Ai> ,dhroll 50
[14:16] <Puppysnuggles> Ai: 95 Failure by 4 degrees!
[14:16] <Ai> …wow
[14:16] <PersonaGM> :O
[14:16] <PersonaGM> Ai bad stelf
[14:16] <Ai> .will this fail forward suitably comically
[14:16] <PersonaGM> Oh yes.
[14:16] <Ai> because I think the only real answer to this is
[14:17] <Ai> "Ai attempts to roof stealth." "Fails." "Not injurously, but still catastrophically in ways of making her look insane."
[14:17] <Ai> formal request
[14:17] <Ai> if she indeed confronts him now, to start RPing here
[14:17] <Ai> because both discussion, and
[14:17] <Ai> THIS
[14:18] <Ai> (in fact she could even succeed the mount but then clonk so loudly that she's instantly noticed and then freaks out and falls - but catches her fall)
[14:18] <Ai> (this seems like the best way to uphold the spirit of the action)
[14:19] <PersonaGM> Ai decides to… Roof stealth
[14:19] <PersonaGM> Which is… An interesting choice to be sure
[14:19] <Ai> again it's
[14:20] <Ai> "I was considering it so having her fail through ill-informed decisions sounds amazing"
[14:20] <PersonaGM> She manages to succeed the mount, and she does in fact CLONK… But she's close enough to the top to tumble gracelessly over the ledge. She's now on the roof!
[14:20] <PersonaGM> … At which point a shadow falls across her.
[14:20] <Ai> OH SHIT
[14:20] <Ai> She turns instantly! Stares up! Opens her mouth as if to explain!
[14:20] <PersonaGM> "Hands where I can see 'em, punk." Says the Hard-Boiled Schoolboy, squatting above her, lollypop in mouth, and a water gun in his hand, pointed at her face.
[14:21] <PersonaGM> ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dWf_lSJBzsc I can't really find any better song than this. Courtesy of Tao)
[14:23] <Ai> …Realization crosses her face. Ai points her finger at him, accidentally boppiing the watergun. "Mission successful!" …She was holding onto his gun. Gripping it slightly. …Hard plastic. Not entirely cheap for what it was.
[14:24] <PersonaGM> "Hands off the heat, doll."
[14:25] <Ai> Suppressed snicker, but then she obeys. "…I've been waiting to meet you." In her best ominous voice. Or, not her best. It was a bit of a farce. "I've heard you know a thing or two about… problems. Problems I need [snrk] solved."
[14:26] <PersonaGM> "I might. Who wants to know?"
[14:27] <Ai> "Ai want(s) to know." Ai stop, that pun doesn't work without engrish. "…Onna-bugeishi. There's someone whose misconceptions could be broken with that kind of knowledge."
[14:31] <PersonaGM> "So this is what it's about." He said, leaning back on the balls of his feet. "I knew investigating those broads could bring all kinds of unwanted and wanted attention down on my head, but I did it anyway, because I'm a man with an agenda, a library card and nothing else left to lose." He wags the water gun at Ai. "Spill 'em."
[14:33] <Ai> "Don't think it's easy just because you have a Guns Pressure High, the most powerful watergun at Sophia, that could soak a man clean through." Ai did you just mix dirty harry with Fate? "A certain man with ideas about women, ideas about military history. Bad ideas. I want this fire… doused."
[14:37] <PersonaGM> "Now why would I do a little thing like that for free?" He said. "And by the way, it's what's in the gun that counts."
[14:39] <Ai> "Intriguing. Secrets like that…~" She noted, with a smirk. "I could give you reasons, but are you willing to accept them? And what would you even take? Surely someone like you has a certain… desire." She struck a pose on the ledge. Ai? What th- -
[14:39] <Ai> …A defiant pose. And she grinned. "What if I told you that I'm in the epicenter of the latest chaos to hit the school? What… if I told you I've seen things you wouldn't believe?"
[14:39] <Ai> …Ah.
[14:42] <PersonaGM> "Then I'd tell you to keep talking."
[14:47] * Ai grinned wider. "Good." But then she started to sit up a bit. "The video. Asaka. There's things I don't fully understand going on around it. Info comes with support, but here's a sample… I know Yi and her boyfriend, I could… ask things. I'm aware of organized movements. There may be. …Things one might wonder at, behind the surface. A third party…?"
[14:50] <PersonaGM> "So let me get this straight. I do this for you, and you might tell me something useful down the track?"
[14:52] <Ai> "No, I might tell you something useful when I can be sure you're going to do it for me. And pay the rest when I have my results." Grin status: Cheshire. "…I mean, how can I be sure you won't just sate yourself and leave before I'm… pleased?" AI. STOP.
[14:54] <PersonaGM> [The Hardboiled Schoolboy was silent for a moment, brow furrowed in thought. He took a swig of milkshake from his silver hip flask. "Sounds like we both need some kind of collateral, then."]
[14:56] <Ai> "Sharp, as expected. You must already know some. And I already know some. …in both our offered topics. Of course…" Brighter and brighter smile. "Opsec is a thing."
[14:58] <PersonaGM> ["They say it's better to be feared than loved." He looked up over the edge of the rooftop, and his expression became wistful. "I would know."-
[14:59] <PersonaGM> [Then his face hardened again. "The best collateral is the one that comes with a dead man's switch. I tell you a deep, dark secret. You tell me one. If the other person doesn't deliver…" He made a soft 'boom' sound with his lips. "One good link on the forums and the other can kiss their reputations goodbye."]
[15:02] * Ai …nodded her head, grin softening a bit. "… …I can do that." She eventually said, after a pause with her lips. "I'll keep my trigger just as set as yours, then."
[15:02] <PersonaGM> ["Good. Now we can do business. What's your secret?"]
[15:12] * Ai stared up at him. At first, she just said one phrase. A quote. "Miracles and magic, both exist." But she raised her finger, as if to note she was letting this sink in before she continued. -
[15:16] <Ai> "The world is threatened by forces you cannot witness. I work with a secret society of youths - and a mascot of unknown provenance - to solve mysterious happenings in the shadowy parts of the world, or under the world. I have stabbed my heart, I have walked through the ring of the worm and come out on the other side. In the reverse side of the world, I have power. But even here…" -
[15:18] * Ai had a cryptic look, and… pointed her finger. Her sight of bonds, activated unbeknowest to the boy, and she gestured towards where the 'line' for his strongest positive bond ended. "The person you most like is in that direction." Then, the most negative line, she turned her finger towards. "The person you most dislike, is in that direction." -
[15:20] <Ai> The fingers were surprisingly precise. Even if both were at school, she subtly moved to match position on campus. Then. "…And you mildly like me. Your caution is probably keeping the intensity low. I see this as glowing lines when I activate my second sight. Through this, I can discover evidence I need to find where the truth in the real world affects the unconscious of humanity.
[15:20] * Ai then just softly nodded, waiting for his response.
[15:30] <PersonaGM> [The Boy reacted to this egregious breach of opsec by narrowing his eyes.-
[15:30] <PersonaGM> [He followed Ai's fingers as she pointed, nodding slowly.-
[15:31] <PersonaGM> ["I don't know if I can believe you as much as you want. Don't got a lot of faith to be going around." He said, rising from his squatting position. "And just like that I was back in over my head, ensnared in some muckraked drug store fiction novel of a story, all thanks to the…" He paused and eyed her. "… Medium-length legged dame who fell at my feet."-
[15:32] <PersonaGM> ["… But, if I dropped the rumour on the forums you'd get attention for sure. The people down there are hardly better than animals. Half of 'em would dox their own mothers for a retweet and the rest would smash the like button as they did so. It'll do."]
[15:35] <Ai> "It will, won't it?" She smiled ever the brighter. "How else do you think I managed to keep up with you? All those kids yelling about their milk, jumping at your approach." Her own eyes narrowed. "Madness and truth in harmony. Into the labyrinth of demons. Or is it just a foolish chuunibyou dame? Your milkshake won't end that nagging uncertainty in your soul, dear~" … -
[15:36] * Ai was outright giggling. "Truth or falsity, yes, it'll ruin me. That's collateral if you ever had one, that I'd pawn off such things as true. You could call me insane."
[15:37] <PersonaGM> ["Typical me. Always the crazy ones."]
[15:38] <Ai> "Now shoot, with words. How can I end you if you don't uphold the contract with this demon-huntress?~"
[15:39] <PersonaGM> [He sighed. "My name…"-
[15:39] <PersonaGM> ["My name is…"-
[15:40] <PersonaGM> ["Actually, my name is on a need-to-know basis and you don't need to know." Said the Hardboiled Schoolboy. He rubbed some errant marks off his watergun.-
[15:41] <PersonaGM> ["Here is my secret. A secret that will destroy me."-
[15:41] <PersonaGM> [He took in a deep breath.-
[15:44] <PersonaGM> ["I don't even like long legs."]
[15:46] <Ai> "… ehe." Ai said. "That's it then? If I were to tell this to someone, you'd be harmed? Is that really it, Daitantei-san? Are you sure it's not something else…?"
[15:50] <PersonaGM> ["If people found out that I didn't like classy dames because their legs went all the way up, I'd be ruined." He muttered. "But if that's not good enough…"-
[15:50] * Ai held up a hand, and pushed it against his nose. "Shh."
[15:50] <PersonaGM> ["Gah." He batted at her hand. "What're you doing?"]
[15:50] <Ai> "You don't have a secret that'll ruin you. And that itself can ruin you even more… Mr. Holmes."
[15:51] * Ai had a surprisingly smug mien, to the point of brief cruelty.
[15:51] <PersonaGM> ["…"-
[15:52] <PersonaGM> ["Damn. The dame was too smart. Supernaturally smart. I guess you have to be when you're hunting demons. But now she was hunting me, and I didn't have any infernal wit to get me out of this one."-
[15:52] <PersonaGM> ["Fine. You win. I don't have any dark secrets. Only normal secrets."]
[15:56] * Ai giggled softly, and outright booped his nose. "Hee. Eeeeehehehe. Now, whether or not you believe me, I could actually use that data, and you're still interested in the truth. In a way… in a way they both serve the same end? But. but…!" Giggling even more. "It was really fun playing along with you to the hilt! But Asaka does have to stop. And … there IS more to this. Bad, more. You might save lives, and
[15:56] * Ai if nothing else you'll save hearts."
[15:57] <PersonaGM> ["I was optimistic like you, once." He said with a sigh.]
[16:00] * Ai …nodded. "Yo." As if to just… break the ice. "If you have no dark secrets, you have more room to be pessimistic. And… and." She shook her head, retracting her hand to fold it. "I've cried a ton since I got here. I've been afraid I'll die, and I don't even mean the supernatural stuff. This isn't quite optimism. This is hope." A solemn, yet playful, expression. "Hope hurts a lot more than pessimism."
[16:03] <PersonaGM> ["And ain't that a kick in the head." He spat out his lollypop and unwrapped a new one, shielding it with his hands so the wind didn't put it out.-
[16:03] <PersonaGM> ["I'll do a Kurata and bring up the Onna thing in history class right to his face. Make a big scene. Get detention. Wouldn't be the first time. Best way to make people know about it in a hurry."]
[16:06] <Ai> "People already know, and while I breached it, opsec would prefer some silence still. What I actually want to know is…" Ai said, her smile now soft rather than smug. "I need to understand how to best make an argument, make a demonstration that women can fight in a war. Some little thing that proves they aren't meant to be off the front lines. You knew about the history, yeah? …So that's my real job for you, problem
[16:06] <Ai> sleuth. Give me an argument I can put on stage at the theater of dreams."
[16:08] <PersonaGM> [He took a puff of his lollypop. "If you want to create a legend like the warrior women of old Japan, then you gotta think like they did- and fight to the death in the face of overwhelming odds."-
[16:08] <PersonaGM> ["In fact, if all the men run and only the women stay- I'd reckon that's as strong a symbol as any."]
[16:11] * Ai nodded firmly. "…That would clinch it. Give it a bit of period-accurate oeuvre and I think I can sell it." She smiled. "Your payment for today…" She nodded. "Yi was told by an unknown person that she could meet them at the temple school for more information on how to pull Asaka back from ruining the school year, from abusing his power. I, her boyfriend, and a number of other individuals were asked to come
[16:11] * Ai along after we got tied into the mess by our own accidents and intentions." She pulled out her phone, as if just to… review something. -
[16:15] <Ai> "The meeting, in the old temple school, was a trap. Yi had gone ahead of us, and by the time we caught up with her, we found a strange kid in some kind of coat and mask - older year of high school. He had a knife. There was blood. Guy stabbed the dorm cat. …From there, things got weird. The cat recovered, mind you, and we found out from them and someone else on scene that Yi got clear." She shook her head. "Whether
[16:15] <Ai> or not you believe the magical stuff, we have reason to believe he wanted to suppress Yi. Keep us from stopping Asaka. …And let the other side's debris from the whole debacle continue unchecked. If that happens, people die. Even without it, dude had a knife, come on." -
[16:15] <Ai> She nodded firmly. "That's your first piece of intel."
[16:16] <PersonaGM> ["… Huh."]
[16:19] <Ai> "Yep. I imagine if you want proof, you might still find some of the bloodstains in there. …Er, it kinda fell apart a bit while we were in there though…"
[16:20] <PersonaGM> ["It's a lead. Not the worst I've had."]
[16:21] <Ai> "Damn right it is." She stood up, then. "…We good?" She was, though, eyeing that watergun.
[16:22] <PersonaGM> ["We good. Don't worry, I won't spray you. This time." He said, putting it away. "As I said, it packs a punch."]
[16:23] <Ai> "What, is it loaded with capsacin? Hydrofluoric?" She half-teased, half actually asked.
[16:24] <PersonaGM> ["No. It's piss."]
[16:25] <Ai> "That's some dedication, mister. I guess it's a good lunchroom threat, though I hope you put perfume on the gun or something or…" She trailed off.
[16:27] <PersonaGM> [But he was already scaling over the side of the roof. "Wouldn't do to let the dogs catch the scent."]
[16:30] * Ai …folded her arms for a moment longer. "That was interesting." She narrated to herself. "But possibly useful." …Then hopped off the ledge, managing a disturbingly good landing before heading off again.

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