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"Umm-" Gabrielle chokes out, "but why are you still invisible? We don't have any cameras in here."
"After seeing how it all went down last night, I'm pretty sure that Faceless can see through walls. So even though he might not act before nightfall, there's no guarantee that he isn't watching what's going on in here right now."
"W- what!?" Gabrielle gasps. "S- so like... he might've been watching me take a shower!?"

I have never seen Gabrielle look so disgusted before.

"I dunno about all that," Theresa replies with a pained expression that her mask isn't able to cover, "but I didn't want to risk anything this time around. Last night he got rid of most of the security in the room he hit and I don't want either myself or Irene getting yanked through a wall and ending up in God-knows-where."


>but what about me and gabrielle and charlotte?
>yeah, but he'll probably want us around to watch him pull off his heist

>>47327644
>yeah, but he'll probably want us around to watch him pull off his heist

>>47327644
>yeah, but he'll probably want us around to watch him pull off his heist

He is pretty showboaty. Even if he does stick us through a wall to avoid us lasering him, he'll probably just stick us at the ground floor or something harmless

Also, it'll be more suspicious if one of us is missing/invisible when he arrives

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>writing

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Theresa's definitely right to be cautious about that... I mean, last night he got rid of those goons like it was no effort for him at all, pulling them all through the walls before anyone could even react. And judging from everything else he did, I bet he could've even pulled the few who were left through the floor or something if he'd actually wanted to.

"Yeah..." I nod, "...you two are dangerous outsiders but he'll probably want to leave the three of us around as witnesses."
"More like spectators," Theresa scowls. "Especially to someone as theatrical as him, there's no better witnesses to a heist than the victim and their loved ones."
"That at least fits how he's done things in the past," Irene replies.


>first order of business is setting up
>first order of business is that asshole spying on us
>first order of business is something else

>>47328646
>first order of business is that asshole spying on us

No sense in setting up if we're being watched while planning

>>47328646
>first order of business is that asshole spying on us

>>47328646
>first order of business is that asshole spying on us
Damn it's quiet in here.

>>47328762
Yeah. Wonder where everyone is

>>47328776
In bed, like I am headed to now.

>>47328784
>Sleeping

Why?

>>47328646
>first order of business is that asshole spying on us

can't have a proper OPS when the foe knows what we're doing.
>>47328776
What do you expect. Arch runs in the middle of the night.

>>47328796
Not that guy but it's almost 5am here and i really should be asleep right now

>>47328819
2pm in Ausfagland

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>writing

>>47328877
I want to interact with the Japanese Goblin of Intoxication, Pandemonic fun, and Glorious long orange hair!

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"I guess we ought to get ready, then..." Irene says as she gives her free arm a good stretch.
"Wait a minute," I interject. "Before we do any of that, shouldn't we do something about that asshole spying on us?"
"Yeah, really," Gabrielle nods repeatedly. "Now I'm scared to even use the ba-"

She cuts herself off the instant she remembers that her crush is listening. Thankfully, Theresa isn't one to tease her.

Unlike me.


>[1/?]

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>>47329192


"AHEM," Charlotte loudly clears her throat as she gets up from the couch. "If you don't mind, it's kind of hard to follow the conversation while I'm unable to perceive the existence of two of the people who are talking."

...oh yeah. That's right.

"So if someone could -maybe- relay what's being said so that I'm able to participate..." Charlotte rolls her eyes.
"Oh- sorry!" Theresa stammers. "Gabrielle, would you mind helping your sister out?"
"Eh- me!?" Gabrielle jumps. "O- of course!"

And so, Gabrielle dutifully gives her big sister a recap of what we were just talking about. I can't help but find it funny.


>[2/?]

>>47329371
>MaouZenigame@DA
I am going to leave a shitpost on your DA profile

>>47329371
>>47329422
I see that you have found the shitpost I left on your profile.
Let that be a lesson to you to ... ... I dunno. Just pretend you learned something

>>47329371
>[3/3]

"Like I was saying before, " I continue, "we really need to do something about being spied on before we do anything else."
"I agree," Charlotte nods.
"Hmm..." Theresa scratches her head, "I guess that's up to you?" she points at me.
"Huh?"

Me?

"You're the one who can control light, I mean," Theresa replies. "So if the three of you plan on doing something different, you can just... I dunno, erase all the light in this hotel room and get in position?"

perfect

that which is never alone is limited to its normal pathetic eyesight but even your beloved is able to see with a fraction of the light that a normal human would need to see

and our eyes only require the faintest glimmer


>okay, I guess
>wait a minute...

>>47329745
>>wait a minute...
A simple task, but is his ability really sight-based?

>>47329745
>okay, I guess

Seems like a decent enough plan

>>47329745
>okay, I guess

>>47329745
>okay, I guess

Tell them that it'll take a lot of concentration though.

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"Okay, I guess..." I shrug. "It'll probably take a TON of concentration to pull off, though. The only experience I have with this is stealing the light just in front of people;'s eyes."
"You'll probably only need to hold it for a little while," Theresa replies. Just enough for you three to get into position."

do not doubt her

"I guess I could manage that," I say. "But, uh... we're working on s lot of assumptions here. Are you sure that his ability is sight-based?"
"Pretty sure," Theresa replies. "Remember how well your flashbomb worked on him last night?"
"...oh yeah."

it has eyes

eyes require light to see

we are the sun

you fool


>[1/?]

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>>47330233
>[2/2]

"I can see through walls and stuff too," Gabrielle says, "but I still can't see if there's no lights in the area. So maybe his sight's like that too?"
"That's just what we're going to have to assume," Charlotte replies.


>I have other concerns
>let's move on to the next order of business

>>47330376
>>I have other concerns
Wouldn't he have caught most of this then?

>>47330376
>let's move on to the next order of business

>>47330376
>let's move on to the next order of business

>>47330376
>I have other concerns
Shouldn't we team up with Theresa for invisible sword casting to freak him out?

>>47330376
>>let's move on to the next order of business

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>writing

>>47330376
>I have other concerns

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A certain concern pops into my head.

"Are you sure that he can't hear everything that we're saying?" I ask, looking around. "Because if he can..."
"Then there's nothing we can do about it," Charlotte replies, crossing her arms. "And Gabrielle and I go with our original plan."
"Mmhmm," Gabrielle nods. "Shary's all ready, too."
"Well at least this means we have a backup..." I sigh.

I really hope that it doesn't end with whatever "plan B" is. Mostly because I'm pretty sure that said "plan B" is just murdering the hell out of Faceless and having their father's cleaners dispose of the body like what happened with the vampire bitch. And the Mafia guy.


>[1/?]

>>47330820
>[2/2]


"Yeah, I'm going to hope that we haven't been given away like that," Theresa sighs. "Just move along as planned and this should be simple. Mostly simple, I mean."
"So we're gonna get ready to do this, then?" Gabrielle asks. "'Cuz the sun's pretty low in the sky..."
"Yes, let's do that," Charlotte replies.


>I'll hold off on the swording for now, that'll only escalate things
>invisible swording time to freak him out

>>47330896
>>I'll hold off on the swording for now, that'll only escalate things

>>47330896
>>I'll hold off on the swording for now, that'll only escalate things
Let's see first how Boob Girl's plan pans out.

>>47330896
>I'll hold off on the swording for now, that'll only escalate things

I mean, while it probably would freak him out it would also probably move us a few marks closer to his super shitlist if he pieced together that we severed his finger. As far as we know he's still not quite certain who did it.

>>47330896

>I'll hold off on the swording for now, that'll only escalate things

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In the back of my mind, I can feel the evil voice's rising bloodlust. It wants what it ALWAYS wants- to remove threats, and Faceless happens to be the latest in an increasingly growing list of those. But even though I'm sure I could convince Theresa to let me in on her invisibility... or even pull some kind of optic camouflage thing if I really wanted, going all swordy on him when he shows up will only serve to set him off and I really don't need him getting all unpredictable on us.

Especially since his Branch has the potential to be really freaking scary if he was to use it for something other than flagrant thievery.

So instead, I think I'll stow the swords for now and see how Irene's plan works out. Hopefully we can end things (mostly) peacefully for a change.


>[1/?]

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>>47331131

"Okay..." Irene scratches her head, "...first I need to know what his actual target is."
"Loki," Gabrielle replies since her sister can't hear the question.
"...uh-"

She looks really confused.

"Our crow," Gabrielle continues. "I named him Loki."
"CAAAAAAAAAW!" Loki calls out from his spot on the couch.
"Okay," Irene sighs, "but why do you think that he's going to do for a crow?"
"That jerk went after Cecile 'cuz she killed that Mafia guy," she replies, "and Charlotte was there too so it's obvious that -she's- the 'Gauthier' that he said he'd target next."
"Yeah, we already established that. But it doesn't explain why you think he'll go after a crow of all things... couldn't it just fly away?"
"His wing's broken," Theresa replies. "It happened during that whole mess with the vampire that we fought while you were gone."
"Oscar helped out a TON with that!" Gabrielle smiles. "And I really want to thank you for coming to the rescue again with this..."


>[2/?]

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>>47331308

The more Gabrielle fawns over Theresa, the more uncomfortable she seems. And I doubt the fact that she's holding her girlfriend's hand while all this is going on is helping with that any.

It's amusing as hell for me, though.

"Uhh, sure..." Theresa replies with an extremely pained smile.
"But yeah," Gabrielle continues, "If he stole a cactus then kidnapping a crow who can't fly isn't all that out of the question for a jerk like him."
"I don't place much sentimental value on my belongings," Charlotte says. "So the only way he'd be able to get his desired reaction is by kidnapping one of my animals. And since Loki is both crippled at the moment -and- the only one of them who wouldn't cause him immense physical harm if he tried anything with..."
"Okay, I get it," Irene nods. "The crow's the only logical target."
"She gets it," Gabrielle repeats.


>[3/?]

>>47331403
>[4/4]

With their questions as to what the target of tonight's burglary attempt will be now dealt with, we head into the living room where we find said target comfortably nestled on the top of Shary's head. It's always a cute sight.

"Okay..." Theresa nods to herself, "...I was thinking that we'd have Cecile make a hologram decoy of the target," she points to Loki, "and when Faceless goes for it I'll let go of Irene and she'll go for the capture. Does that make sense to you guys?"

While Gabrielle takes a few seconds to relay the plan to her sister, I think over the plan myself.


>I have an amendment to the plan
>I have a question about the plan
>let's try it as-is

>>47331489
>>I have an amendment to the plan
CC will also immediately steal the light from his eyes, so he doesn’t see Irene coming.

>>47331489
>>let's try it as-is

>>47331489
This: >>47331510

>>47331510
>>47331489
Seems logical, I mean all we're doing is adding overkill options. While we're at it why not have the decoy right next to Shary so it can maul the fucker too?

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"Yeah, I think I can manage that," I nod. "A little Loki-sized hologram won't be that hard to pull off."

And I think I'll help in my usual ways when he actually shows up. Since this guy doesn't seem to have heat-sensing like that stupid ice bitch did, stealing the light from his eyes ought to work fine... though I guess I'll have to steal the light from his mask since his face is completely covered.

Man, I wish I could've cut that stupid thing off him last night.

"Great," Theresa nods. "What about everyone else?"
"I'm fine," Gabrielle nods. "Charlotte?"
"Let's get this idiocy over with so I can finally get my peace of mind back." Charlotte replies.
"Agreed," Irene nods.

And here's where I meant to end it last night. As always, I thank everyone who participated.

The next thread will be Thursday night, upon which time shit shall finally go down.


and now questions

>>47331866
>The next thread will be Thursday night, upon which time shit shall finally go down.
About time!

Thanks for running, Arch.

>>47331866
Do you have any idea how long this story is word-wise?

>>47331866
Thanks for running!

>>47331866
What do you consider the single most broken branch for strict utility application? I'm curious as to what's the powerlevel of branches which don't directly help in a fight.

>>47331879
>>The next thread will be Thursday night, upon which time shit shall finally go down.
>About time!
inorite


>>47331944
>Do you have any idea how long this story is word-wise?
As of the end of this thread, it's at 598,830 words.


>>47332035
>What do you consider the single most broken branch for strict utility application? I'm curious as to what's the powerlevel of branches which don't directly help in a fight.
Pure utility? There's a lot of ways that Branches can be helpful in that manner. Even stuff like Dragon's Tooth or Forest Witch can be abused pretty handily for pure noncombat purposes.

An example of one that's pretty much 100% utility is Bind Seeker, which grants its holder the ability to directly visualize the relations between different things in the form of lines that connect them.
Tracing the route that a person took during their day, linking a murder weapon with its user, etc.
For a detective, something like that is as useful an ability as it gets.

But that's just a single example that I've been playing around with in my head for the past couple of days.
Branch powerlevels can get pretty high in the conceptual bullshit level and there's no one thing that is "best" in my eyes.


And now I sleep. Thanks for playing!

For further questioning:
http://maouzenigame.tumblr.com/

Game production blog:
https://studioarchelon.wordpress.com/

>>47332118
>>>The next thread will be Thursday night, upon which time shit shall finally go down.
>>About time!
>inorite
Hype for this tonight