holyspirits | W5 CYOA - Zhongli, Akihiko, Laurence, Ali Zoph

[ well. alright. zhongli considers this before he circles back to the other school. ]

Is there not a point of contact at Odyssey? If this student has caused this level of trouble, here, then surely they will do the same at their school if left to their own devices.

[ he'd ask if they're cleared for force to retrieve The Idol, but. well. guns don't kill people! ]

[He is nodding along with all of this before he suggests something else.]

Does Idol have a phone? We might be able to track her from her phone's signal.

[ part of laurence is like "what's karaoke" while the rest of him is like yea okay that tracks, what a pain for seminar!!

does he actually have anything to contribute here uhhhhh ]

Do you know anything about where in Odyssey they'd be?

"We can't guarantee they won't be in some sort of disguise, but your target is a little on the short side, thin, and has pale skin. Their hair is grey and their eyes are teal. Their halo is neon green and resembles graffiti, or so I'm told.

Unfortunately things with Odyssey are... Well, they're good for the time being, but mostly because we don't interfere with one another's business.

We managed to follow The Idol's phone's signal out to The Golden Fleece - one of the Odyssey's ships. But The Idol is a bit too savvy to not have blocked us out eventually. And with some help, we've learned that this ship is officially 'retired' but... Has been being used as a sailing casino.

Which contributes to why Odyssey wouldn't want us to retrieve them. They've been forging bonds in Seminar's name again and spending them with reckless abandon. From Odyssey's perspective, we would be sniping a valuable "Whale" from them, out on the open seas. Their own territory.

But if they aren't retrieved soon, Seminar is likely to be bankrupt within a week!"

Don't worry. We'll take less than a week.

[Well, as far as information goes...there's only one last thing left. Akihiko's hand goes to wherever he stashed the pistol he has]

Fighting capabilities. Tell all you know about it. What kind of fight should we expect to happen if it goes awry and this Idol catches us?

[Because that's a very plausible possibility. You never know how rolls might go!]

[ great. a sigh, but at least akihiko is getting the next question to come to mind out of the way. they should definitely do this commission, for the sake of seminar!

except they could just leave. that's still on the table, he reminds himself - if not for all of them, then at least laurence's sake, considering he's not a combatant and certainly still very much on the living side of heaven. ]

And if Odyssey catches us there, on the Golden Fleece? Will extraction be possible, or are we on our own, there, and meant to make our way out with no outside assistance?

Well there's ways to go in besides straightforward. We could sneak into the employee area and put work uniforms on. Then we could move around the casino freely.

[Well. Maybe not the teens. But they can just claim to be 18, it's fine.]

[ laurence is actually 18 so yea he totally could do that. rip akihiko. ]

Aren't they going to know this "whale" is gone, anyway? They're still going to be pissed about it.

"With your skills, I imagine you'll have it done by the end of the day! As for The Idol's skills - they're no pushover. Despite all their time spent in the self-reflection room, we do still leave them with study supplies. They use a machine gun, and while they're a little more prone to running than fighting, they do tend to play dirty, so keep that in mind.

If Odyssey were to catch you as... guests, I suppose that might not be too problematic. As long as you're able to extract the target somehow. Though for obvious reasons we can't currently offer you a stipend to help with blending in, either for clothes or gambling.

We'll be in contact while you're aboard, so extraction... May be possible. It's going to depend on the situation. Should you be caught, we don't exactly want to send a Seminar helicopter to retrieve you. We don't want them knowing that this is a school matter and not an independent act. So if things go awry, hopefully you've got a backup plan. It might not hurt to check in with other departments before you head out. They might have more... unaffiliated resources.

Ultimately the goal is for them to be mad that their cash-cow is gone without pointing to us as a school for having taken them away."

[Perhaps it's a good thing Akihiko has charisma advantage. Getting away with pretending to be 18 might work out after all.

Akihiko nods, believing there was enough information to go on. No more questions from him. How are you all doing, gang, you ready?]

[ it'll be fine, probably.

but zhongli considers before he decides they're ready to leave, hand to chin. ]

Would you have any deparments in particular you would recommend? [ for them to hit up. because he doesn't know but also does know? probably? although he's a little hesitant to do that, considering it's probably going to mean they're going to see some familiar faces. ]

[Shadow work. Ok.]

We probably shouldn't wear school uniforms then, if we don't want attention drawn to the school.

[Time for maid uniforms, it is the perfect cover. Clearly maids aren't students, right?]

[ sorry he's just gonna look at the others uncertainly like do we have a backup plan???? ]

Hmm... Let's see... The clubs that are still on campus right now are Seminar, Veritas, The Engineering Club, The Game Development Department, the Super Phenomenon Task Force, the Athletics Training Club, and... Well, yourselves, C&C! But you do have all of Kivotos at your disposal if you wanted to check in with another school. I wonder if that might even help you to look more like you're acting independently?

Anyway, I'm sure any one of our clubs would have an idea of how to get onboard a ship in the middle of the ocean. It's just a matter of whether you think it's a good idea or not.

We can handle that ourselves.

[No we can't; Akihiko simply isn't used to asking people unrelated to the club he's in. S.E.E.S never went asking for help for its activities, for obvious reasons, so his immediate reaction is to say C&C can too. It's a habit!]

[ we do not have a backup plan right now, no!

that is not comforting for anyone. ]

... thank you, Miss Noa. We will see what we can do, and what might be the best group to reach out to, should we need assistance. Shall we, gentleman?

[ we need to go talk about this shit and also? decide? also there are so many clubs here. ]

[There sure are a lot of clubs!

Ali waits until they are alone to ask a question:]

I can carry about a hundred pounds while flying. How about you, Zhongli?

[Can they even change here? He has no idea.]

[ why are there so many clubs? they don't have those in the tower. what are all of them? ]

Other schools wouldn't mind helping out with this...?

[ he's good to go discuss but. do they even know what that entails. ]

[ Noa just believes Akihiko at face value that the four of you have a way of getting to a ship that is, again, in the middle of the ocean. yeah! why wouldn't you! and she nods at Laurence's question. You can still ask her more questions I'm just not doing the code for a 'yes correct.'

You're all familiar with the clubs in Millennium, since it's your own school. Athletics, Engineering, and Game Dev all speak for themselves, but for clarity, you also know that Veritas is a hacker club, and the Super Phenomenon Task Force is an occult research club.

You're not as sure about the clubs in other schools, but you know the basics about the schools themselves if you wanted to check them out instead.

Trinity: a traditional catholic school full of sweet angels who never tried to overthrow the government.
Gehenna: a chaos hell school full of little gremlins who try to overthrow the government every day.
Abydos: poor.
SRT: advanced poor. they are homeless and live in the park.
Valkyrie: cops
Red Winter: russia
Shanhaijing: tourism
hyakkiyako: japan

and regarding transformation... he won't know until he tries............ (but no, none magic or transformations. rip.) ]

[None of the other schools come across as particularly useful, thinks Akihiko, it's unlikely they'll get to the ship through the power of catolicism or something]

Let's go.

[He answers that to Zhongli, and gets to leave. Let's see...]

We heard all the details we might need. Are we actually doing this? Knowing our reputation, we might be the ones bankrupting Seminar anyway.

[With our penchant for excessive damaging and going over budget, we'll end up sinking that ship or something. If the Idol doesn't bankrupt Seminar, there's a chance we will]

[ zhongli is quiet for a moment, thinking, once they're by themselves again. he keeps one hand to his chin, the other cupping his elbow, and just closes his eyes - though he does make a faint noise when addressed, to acknowledge ali. ]

I do not feel my power, here. But I know that I can easily carry an icebox [ fridge ] with little trouble, when not at my full strength.

Knowing, now, what we do... I am not adverse to trying to find another way out of this scenario, but oftentimes domains will require you to meet a threshold before you can leave them, back in Teyvat, and it sounds as if that is no different here. No one I've spoken to has made it sound as if there was an alternative.

Edited 2025-03-17 20:34 (UTC)

[Right, no magic flying then.]

If the casino is out on the water, then we need a boat to get out there. So our first priority is securing a boat. Maybe we can rent one?

[ a domain... of course it would have some sort of stupid requirement. ugh!! ]

Would the Athletics Training Club have boats...?

[ what even is a boat, anyway? he knows but he doesn't this is so confusing and his head hurts. ]

They're not going to give us money to disguise ourselves, much less to get a boat -- and we can't pay for a boat ourselves.

[Probably. It's too bad none of us is from a megarich family who can pay the most expensive expenses, damn]

I doubt the Athletics club would have a boat...if anything, maybe those in engineering might have an idea of who to get in touch without raising suspicion.

Considering the clothing of the C&C, could we not simply say that we are there as a cleaning service for the casino? We are, after all, cleaners - it is not necessarily a lie.

[ like. they are maids.

zhongli makes a face after he says this, slight as it is, but continues on. ]

Athletics could have rowboats, but that might be arduous for us to get aboard a ship with. Engineering or Veritas could be helpful, considering The Idol's apparent hacking. [ fucking. makes another face. what is hacking!!! ] The... Shanhaijing school, they might have a boat that we could borrow, perhaps. Sight-seeing boats are a part of tourist attractions.

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