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

[ 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.

[All of these are good solutions, so!]

Let's check with the engineering club first then, and if that fails we can check Athletics and Shanhaijing for boats as well. If all else fails, we'll "borrow" one from the harbor.

If that sounds good, then let's get going.

...Do we seriously have to wear these?

[ is he just now realizing what their outfits are? maybe so. the tips of his ears are a little red. ]

Maybe there's a theater club we can talk to about disguises? At least wigs or something so we can blend in a little better?

[ they are the only four guys in this entire place and while this is totally normal and makes perfect sense, laurence is also extremely self-conscious and doesn't want to stand out. please. he's going to die here and never return to the living. whatever that means. ]

[ You can always check out multiple places, so for the time being I'll nyoom you along. You head to check out the Engineering club first. You saw them earlier out on the lawn - two girls toying with some robot they must have recently made.

As you approach, you see that it's spinning wildly, periodically shooting ketchup out of one blaster and tennis balls out of another. So good luck dodging that if you want to get close? Either way, you can see that the two girls look very proud of themselves, until a third student joins them, looking... well, also pretty amused? But also exasperated. ]

What did you do...

Ah... The Athletics department wanted to play tennis next week.

And they serve fries a the batting cages, right? We didn't want to be outdone.

If we got time, maybe.

[Akihiko is glad this isn't emotionshare because this way he can pretend he's flustered on the inside about his outfit. Normal it is, but at the same time it feels unusual. How contradictory!]

Let's try the boat issue first. Disguises will be pointless if we can't get onto the ship in the first place.

[Akihiko, with his charismatic gun power, decides to be the first to approach]

Got a minute? We're looking for something.

[ OHHHH NOOOOOOO.

unfortunately, while he knows who iris is... he's never seen him before, despite witnessing one of laurence's memories when he was still alive. so it doesn't even register to him that this third student is possibly not supposed to be here. they're all students, aren't they?

but, sure. akihiko can go talk to them. clearly he is overflowing with charisma now? ]

[Like Zhongli, Ali has alo seen this certain someone in a memory. But to make sure he's seeing right, he looks to Laurence to make sure this is actually the guy.]

[ i see that i am going to be the problem child of this cyoa.

unfortunately, no one has seen fit to really give laurence a lot of details on these little adventures. all he really knows is that strange things happen, it fucks with their heads, and they come back on the brink of death. no one's mentioned seeing someone you love.

so he is immediately alarmed, and rushing straight over. sorry everyone you no longer exist. ]

Iris?! What the hell are you doing?!

[ why is he here (why wouldn't he be) shouldn't he be somewhere back home (of course he's home) ]

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