[open] party @ my house

[brocon]

Who: Anyone!
When: Prrrobably fast forward to the evening of 11/22
Where: Ayumu Narumi's apartment
What: City-wide meeting
Rating/Warning: There shouldn't be any. Please let me know if there's anything that needs to be f-locked so I can change this accordingly.

---

[ Whether it was through Oz or Ayumu, or possibly an anonymous tip-off or some other, you were invited to a small gathering! Of course, the only ones invited are non-natives to the city.

It's probably strange to be invited to a stranger's apartment, but Ayumu didn't want anyone who shouldn't be involved to listen in on what they were talking about. Had it been at a public place, that could have happened. And besides, having people over for a very serious reason also gave him a very serious reason to cook. There was a pretty wide variety of food, from finger food, pasta, meat, rice, and some desserts. He was particularly good at cooking that the people who usually ate his food back at home wanted to marry him, but whether or not you'd find his cooking delicious is up to you.

Ayumu welcomes anyone to enters most likely wearing an orange apron and a spatula on his hand. The first thing he tells anyone who enters is to remove their shoes and leave them by the door. He's got everything ready, and his apartment looks comfortable enough. There might not be enough chairs, but he set up some mats on the floor for people to sit on. His living room/receiving area was right across his dining room, so there was ample space for all his guests.

Once there's a good number of people around, he calls everyone's attention. ]

Right.

My name's Narumi, and this is probably going to be the last time you'll see me. [ Socialising is hard. ]

I arrived here just before Halloween. I want to know about the strange things that have happened before I arrived. From my experience, there might be a pattern to these disruptions. The CEO apparently dismisses these as "glitches." The ghosts and people losing a sense or their entire body is one.

New people usually arrive every two weeks, but there weren't any lately. They should have arrived the past week. A disruption was probably supposed to happen, too, but it didn't. I don't know if this is another "glitch" or not, but it's definitely a change from what you'd probably call "the usual".

If anyone who has been here longer can talk about past "disruptions", then the floor is yours. Knowing when and how long they happened would be good to know too. If we can at least figure this out, then we'd be able to have less casualties. I'm sure at least one person here in this room has died in this place already.

I also probably wouldn't talk about what happens here through those devices they gave us. It'll help to be careful.

---

Note: City-wide meeting mingle GO. Feel free to make your own top-level comments, and you are more than welcome to threadhop! INTERRUPT YATA WHILE HE'S TALKING, GO. Actually, don't do that.

Talk about Serious Things, or whatever you feel like your character would contribute! If your character wouldn't speak in front of everyone, that's fine too. Anything goes! No breaking of furniture or else Housewife Ayumu will get very angry. His room is also off-limits, and so his his spare bedroom. If anyone would like to notice his interior, there's practically two flower vases in each room, decorated with irises and lilies of the valley. There's also a keyboard somewhere in the living room. The instrument, not the gadget.

If anyone wants to play around with the idea of stirring up trouble, please assume that Ayumu will throw a slipper at any troublemaker's head.

Comments

otaaaaa

[bakudanma]

<sub>[ Arriving a few moments late is Zura, and of course he's overly polite to remove his sandals instantly when prompted to. He's been pretty quiet during most of the discussion, his hands remaining tucked in his haori sleeves. He doesn't seem to go for the food or drink, either, but he does enter this house with his sword at his belt. Who invited this guy anyway?

To him, nothing weird is to report. Things happen here and he doesn't find them out of the ordinairy, but he does have some things picking at his mind. Finally, he speaks up when there is a break in discussion. ]</sub>

My question which I asked recently: Why are there only specific people here? I don't have anybody from home. It seems odd. Some people have thought maybe the CEO and his people don't have control of who is here and who isn't. I'm not sure if I believe that. Maybe they have some tactical reason to involve who is here. Am I missing something? Did they explain this in the slideshow?

Another question: If we're supposedly be assisting in some fight against these aliens they've spoken of, where is the actual training? Has anybody opened up a dojo or something where we can actually prepare ourselves for fighting? They seem very eager and excited for us to play games, but I'm beginning to find it difficult to take with me virtues and physical building from knock-offs such as Floppy Bird.

One more question: Did anybody see the season finale last week on All my Primates? I need to know if Janice-san's pregnancy test is positive of negative.

_{[ ??? just ignore that last part. ]}

1/2

[rollin]

NO ONE CARES!

[ Your resident straight man is here... ]

[rollin]

But yeah, I was wondering about that... The training thing, I mean. And like, there's all this talk about aliens and shit, but has anyone actually seen 'em?

[bakudanma]

_{[ look, he missed his train and he didn't get to see it. It's been agonizing, sleepless nights and nobody will tune him in. ]}

I have learned many patience and endurance from Yario Party, but— _{[ dare he says it; he loves games ]} I feel as if it isn't keeping my blade sharpened as it should.

I've heard some people think these aliens don't exist, but that's nonsense. It would be just like them to do something harmful to our homes.

[rollin]

[ Games are fun, but also a timesink. He knows that feel, man. ]

Oh yeah, Zura, you're from Japan with aliens, right? You ever fought 'em before?

[bakudanma]

It's not Zura, It's Katsura. Katsura.

There are aliens in Edo, yes. But they aren't called Flamines. They're called Amanto.
I doubt they have any affiliation, though it's a possibility. I've fought and defeated plenty of them to recognize them should our enemies ever make an appearance.
_{[ and if that's the case, he's gonna be mad. Very, very mad. ]}

For all we know, we could be in an entirely different galaxy from Amanto-type aliens at this rate.

[brocon]

[ What the fuck. He knew some people could get silly, but to ramble as much as Zura did...

He grabs a used table napkin, crumples it into a ball and throws it at Zura's head while he's not looking. ]

[bakudanma]

_{[ uses this to calmly clean blood off of his mouth from Ryuko's attack. ]}

Ah, thank you. I needed this.

[uncoincidental]

[Piping up helpfully - ]

I sort of got the feeling that they were treating ViViD sessions like training for fighting the aliens, and that was why we get paid for doing it. But if that's not what it's supposed to be, why they're not training us to do the things they say they need us for is a really good question.

[bakudanma]

Ahaaaaa. See, you understand. That is how I feel as well. The ViViD sessions are helpful; it is the trial games that we are given to play in the cubicles I don't quite understand.

Maybe it is some kind of pre-training? That is why our tasks are similar to videogames?

This makes me really wonder what sort of enemy we really have.

[uncoincidental]

The fortune-telling game was especially weird...

[Says the girl who noped on out of there as soon as she saw 8-bit Aria.]

A lot of us definitely have a lot to learn about the kind of technology that's common here. If we have to be able to use it well to fight the things that destroyed our worlds, then I can understand why they'd want to start us out slow with games, but CERES needs to be more upfront about it if that's the case.

[sunshrouded]

[ . . . . er, well. Tenka can actually answer.... some of that? A little bit?]

The gym's got a dojo - I've got a buddy who works there. And a cute girl teaches martial arts too. But as far as I know, none of that is actually headed by the government. Doesn't seem like they've got an organized force for handling the alien threat thing.

[ . . . . . ]

But did you just ask about a TV show?

[bakudanma]

_{[ you see, he's a hermit and doesn't really know these things. ]}

Then we should all utilize that facility more often.
It doesn't need to be lead by the government or any higher organization like that. You can't always trust them.

People need to get their own hands dirty and not rely on a government or law enforcement here, especially if it is made up of people we are unfamiliar with in an environment that is unlike our own.

I say we build ourselves up and rebel when the timing is right.

_{[ a pause, then side-glance. ]}
Yes. A soap opera.

[sunshrouded]

[Okay see, Tenka was following that up to a certain point and now he's frowning.]

There are kids here and you want them to get their hands dirty? For the capable fighters and those who are used to combat - I don't think it would hurt to make sure none of us get rusty.... but if you think it'll be alright for children to start picking up weapons, then I'm gonna have to disagree with you there, buddy.

[But okay, now Tenka's just confused.]

Isn't soap something that you use to clean?

Re: otaaaaa

[subvert]

I cannot say whether their explanation is true or not, but my understanding is that there are only specific people here because our data is not "corrupted".

[not that he gets what it means totally, but he thinks he does - and he even has a helpful analogy for it.]

It is as if each of our worlds is a book, and the book was placed in water, so the ink smudged. Each of us is a fortunate word or phrase that is still readable - but it does not change the fact that the rest of the book is apparently ruined. I believe they hope to ... restore the book. That is, if one takes CERES at their word. If such is the case, it is by pure chance that we are here and not another.

[he leaves it up to anyone listening to decide whether CERES should be taken at their word.]

My understanding about the training is that something akin to that was the original purpose of ViViD. It appears to have been replaced and modified with some of the trivialities that it now contains. Mr. Vincere insists that our playing games is extremely helpful in their research against the aliens, but seemed extremely evasive when pressed on how it was helpful.

I believe that there are several of us who have been brought here and are willing to offer training in various forms of combat, but there appears to be nothing official from CERES. Their priorities seem to lie more in absurd rewards and pointless games, such as those in what I believe is called the "otome" genre.

[don't ask him about otome games please. he had a bad experience with one. THANKS ZARA.

he won't even address the last question because he sees it as completely pointless. stop buying into the man, man!!! all my primates is just a tool of Big CERES!!!]

[bakudanma]

_{[ WOW THIS GUY IS WORDY. Zura mulls everything through slowly... carefully... there we go. ]}

Maybe their games are their ways of defeating the Flamines, and the way we play them help them know the loopholes left in their games and how to make it more advanced and harder for people like the Flamines to defeat.

This would explain why they aren't pressing a matter of a more military kind of training.

_{[ listen he saw one episode and fell hard. Nobody stands in the way of his soaps. ]}

The corrupted people are restored and brought here, but if that were the case, are they picking who they restore? Surely they can't bring everyone here. Do we have enough room for so many people from so many different worlds?

[subvert]

[zura says wordy, delita says thorough (and with a distinct lack of respect for contractions).]

That is possible - but why not inform us of such directly? While I am loath to play some of the games that have been given to us... if it meant the preservation of my home, I would do so.

[he doesn't buy the explanation, frankly, because it would require an astounding level of incompetence on CERES' part and a total failure to understand anyone who had a CereVice. while he thinks they're dumb, he can't buy that they are literally less smart than the average 6-year old.]

As for who they restore, I do not know. Perhaps there are only a small number of people who can be. If we take them at their word, then once all is fixed we should be able to go back to our homes, in which case it will no longer matter. But it seems like they not only restore those who are restoreable, but also who succeed at the initial ViViD testing.

[artful_dragon]

[Actually, Sabo was the worst person to introduce that topic to--]

Oh, All my Primates? I wanted to binge watch that when the season finale came out. When is it airing?

[bakudanma]

_{[ finally somebody who understands. FINALLY YOU GUYS. ]}

The finale has already aired. I missed it because a bastard cut me off at the transport station.
_{[ people almost died. ]}

Have.. you seen any of it? At all?

[royalpatron]

I don't have anybody from my home either! This sucks.

Did you ever find out the results of Janice's pregnancy test? I'm curious and I want to know now too.

[bakudanma]

_{[ ohh noo this poor nice lady! ]}

You're not the only one. I know of me and somebody else who is brought here without familiarities.

Oh. I never did. I suppose it might be the best but I just don't want to get behind and stay up to date with the latest shows. Maybe it's best I don't get spoiled, though.

[royalpatron]

That's really sad!!! I hope we can all find someone we know from back home soon.

It won't be any fun for you if you get spoiled.

[mywayofhelping]

[You...don't seem to have the best focus and obviously aren't much of a warrior, but he has a point he wants to make so he'll bother responding to you anyway.]

Really? Even if we aren't truly ourselves, sending more than more person from a world that's been destroyed seems like an odd idea to me.

[uncoincidental]

"Odd"?

[Sheba is... definitely side-eyeing Alex here, whoops. Sorry, Alex. There is basically nothing he can say that she isn't going to be highly suspicious about. #weyard problems]

And what makes you say that?

[mywayofhelping]

[Just because he literally always has a hidden agenda?

At least he didn't say they should go for the best person from each world for the one they take. Even though he's totally thinking it.]

It makes you wonder just when they began gathering information on us, doesn't it? They claim Weyard fell quickly, so sparing anyone should be a feat alone.

[Also the possible time discrepancy but HE'S STILL NOT MENTIONING THAT LITTLE TIDBIT AH HA...]