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

[ 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) ]

[ Akihiko and Laurence both get their aprons all dirty with ketchup for rushing in. But that's what aprons are for so it's probably fine, and once they get closer to the club members they're out of range of the robot that is still just wildly shooting tennis balls and ketchup everywhere. one of the girls looks up at Akihiko. ]

Oh, hey C&C. Woah, you're all running around together. So... You on business?

They wanted this for campus though right? Where are they getting the fries?

It should shoot fries, too.

Oh no, you're right. I guess that means it needs a hot oil chamber...

[ .... it actually takes Iris a second to notice Laurence? ]

Uh... Engineering? What does it look like?

[ Why are you yelling at him. ]

Edited (my capitalization) 2025-03-17 23:55 (UTC)

[Great, now his apron is all full of ketchup. Nick hopes that doesn't go into Snow's drawing]

Something like that. Don't worry, it's got nothing that'll have us in your way. We need a boat, though. Any idea where to get access to one without many questions?

[Woah, just asking straightforward. Was it too direct, Zhongli, Ali, Laure--oh, Laurence is reuniting with someone he knows. You keep doing that!]

[ bold of you to assume that there won't be various versions of that drawing, nick.

zhongli takes an aborted step forward, deciding that he'd rather not get covered in ketchup the way that the two of them are. now that he has a face to go with a name, he frowns unhappily at laurence's back - more concern than disapproval. ]

We had best be prepared to see familiar faces sooner rather than later, then. [ said quietly to ali. then, to the darker haired girl: ] Perhaps a hot oil chamber is not the best idea, considering the fact you're making a projectile machine.

[ local god drowned in frying oil. ]

[Man now he has to face the reality that he has several family members who could show up at any time. Whew.]

We do admire your engineering prowess, which is why we came to you first about this.

[People like being the first one asked, it has a sort of decorum to it.]

[ he does not care about the ketchup when a certain idiot is here!! what do you mean it takes him a second to notice laurence!! he's suddenly SO offended, like he might start shaking in sheer anger. ]

You little... [ UUUUGHHGH HE HATES THIS GUY. ] You're seriously wasting your time on shit like this?

A boat? I mean, we've made some so we could lend you one I guess. But we'd want something in collateral. Don't want you damaging one of our babies.

[ She's a little unconvinced by a 12 charisma roll... but looks perhaps a little more swayed by Ali's addition. It's good that you can see the genius of the Engineering Department. She preens. Yes, perhaps they CAN trust you with their boat... Maybe it needed someone to give it a test run, actually...

But she still wants something in exchange, so she does not amend what she said - just looks a little more relaxed. ]

Well, the oil would stay inside to cook the fries, right? Then the fries would get shot out. But you're right, they'd still be pretty hot. So maybe a cooling chamber, too. Then I bet it could make stuff like deep-fried ice cream for dessert.

[ meanwhile: Iris is STILL unclear why a member of C&C is yelling at him! ]

What? Hey, this was a commission. It's not a waste of time.

Aren't you the ones here asking for a favor?

That could be arranged. What sort of collateral?

[They don't really have that many things to their name right now, he thinks. Better see what could be done]

Laurence. [ his voice is firm, but more a reminder than a reprimand. he wishes he knew that he needed a warning about how these trips had gone for people - because maybe he could've been more prepared for the situation. a hand is held down, low, by zhongli's hip, as a signal to bring it down a few notches if he can.

back to this weird conversation, though: ]

... hopefully you would not be firing fried ice cream out of the same device?

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