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

[ 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?

I don't know, fried ice cream sounds like it could be good.

But yes, we can offer up some collateral. What would you like in return?

[ zhongli draws his attention back, but he sees the hand motion and just kinda

gestures aggressively at iris like HELLO? ARE YOU SEEING THIS JACKASS FOOLING AROUND? what do you want from him!!!! ]

Mm, I don't know. Just something that proves we can count on you. We'd even take a favor, I think.

[ She glances at the other two to confirm, and they both nod back! Sure! A favor would work. This might be ideal for you, because who knows if you'll even be here long enough to have to pay up. ]

Doesn't it make more sense to have one device that can do it all? I mean, they're both the kind of thing you'd want to eat on a fun sports day. Right? Yeah. Yeah.

No one wants a phone that can only run one app.

Yeah, definitely.

What's this kid's problem? This invention came out really good.

[ Iris has no idea what your deal is so he's moved on to ignoring you. And perhaps whispering passive aggressively. ]

[At this rate the collateral will be that we'll keep Laurence from tackling Iris over there]

A favor will be better! We're good at getting things done.

[Somehow, that this could potentially be a loophole because they won't have to actually fulfill a favor if they don't stay for long enough doesn't cross Akihiko's mind. He's a go-getter!]

[ oh my godddd.

zhongli is going to step into the room, unhappy to be ketchuped (unless he can somehow time this to avoid it, but he doubts it) so that he can come over and firmly grasp laurence by the shoulder. his expression is calm and pleasant, to offset the possible aggro that comes about from a frustrated and hurt teenager. ]

I suppose that's a fair way to put it. But we'll look forward to the, ah, completion of it. If we can offer a favor in the meantime, I agree - we're very good at getting things done.

[Well. If there's anything he can do it's favors. Ali is very good at getting things done.]

How about this: I'll write a grant for you so that you can get more funding for your project. You can just put your name on it once I'm done and submit it.

[He is also firmly patting Laurence's other shoulder. Don't do anything rash.]

[ OHHHH YOUUUUUUUUUUU

he is ready to lunge forward to wring this little shit's neck. don't you get passive aggressive at HIM, iris black!!!!!!

he's already taking a step forward when the two adults both try to hold him back, but he is absolutely going to try to throw them off and go for iris anyway. who does he think he is!! ]

Let go.

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