"I don't need you here". Her voice firm but sweet, Lumina might be praying under the rain for all you know.

You shrug. Seems your help is no longer. Oh well, what else could you do during Toast's little test trip?

>>1238698
>flirt

>>1238698
Let's go poke at the ships radio for a bit. Maybe we'll hear something interesting. If that doesn't work lets go hit the shop and make something fun... Or useful. We still have a cryogenic chamber to build after all.

(Welcome back everyone! Assuming anyone even remembers us after all this time lol.)

>>1238936

You walk past Lumina's prayer to the Hard God of Steel and Wires, not saying a word as you head straight for the small latch almost at the end of the Friend's roof. The railing as your left draws your attention; you turn to look down.

"Oh."

It's a long fall, even by your standards. You giggle; a plank here would be fine. Maybe even a parrot- can't be blamed for dreaming.

--------------:D------------------

You drop before the last steps of the ladder right into the floor. Fuck that. Toast turns to you and says something as you walk right past her across the main hall trimming with couches and little wood tables, your hair dripping all the way. One long ladder later and you climb right into the small radio room, finding yourself surrounded by rustic machinery. Your crimson eyes don't shake nor close as they slowly follow your fast hands. The machine grumbles.

You take a few steps back, marveling at the feeling of /fully/ understanding this thing. As the Friend's radio awakens from its slumber, you smile sharply.

"...zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.."

"..zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.."

You wonder if the damn thing works. Yet the muzzling sound goes down before your eyebrows, and finally, settles on a peaceful static chirping. Hmm, there's a microphone there, oddly hanging from the ceiling. You walk up to it.

"Hello. Hello. Hello."

No response. Not surprising given just how fucking far you are from the Surface or even the Second; the titanic ship vanished over the clouds two hours ago. You turn around to go down.

"...H-hello? Who is this?"

...Slowly, you turn around.

"...Hello, hello do you copy? Hello?"

It's a man's voice, and the first thing you think of is a buttler for some reason.

"...Hello?"

>>1239120
"Loud and clear, This your hailing frequency or something? This is the Friend, no call sign yet, over."

>>1238929
I was almost going to tell Moody that if she got hypothermia out there I'd be forced to prescribe cuddling with Roomba as treatment, so she'd better hurry up. Or not.

>>1239222

"Loud and clear," You are kinda thrilled despite your voice. "This your hailing frequency or
something? This is the Friend, no call sign yet, over."

"The Friend? Thi---- wait, signal issues, this is the class Basic airship "Wings". ---visual?
Visual? Do you copy?"

Clearly the rain is fucking with your signal. You may or may have not left Toast talking alone
again on your way to the terrace. One thing most Fakes share by default is sharp eyes, yet
once again next to Moody you fail to find anything at the distance. No matter where you
looked, or how many laps you did around the terrace and its many levels of balconies all
around the head of the ship. Nope; nothing.

You climb again into the radio tower, a lone drop of water going straight through your left eye.

"Still hangin?" you ask, almost smugly.

"H-hello? Copy? We have no visuals yet."

It's the same buttler's voice. And he's not having the day of his life by the sounds of it.
Hmm, the radio signals seem to be picking up, but the savage rain makes it impossible to get a
good look around.

>>1239314
Can't get a visual, but we have radio contact so we can fuck around with the antenna and play Marco Polo as long as he keeps talking, or playing music, or something. Where is the damn thing anyways? Does it look like there is any control system to move it without going out in the fucking rain or am I going to have to add that to the list of things for me to build along with a good directional antenna.

"No visual contact, I repeat no visual contact. Attempting to locate you by radio signal. I take it you're in some shit right now over"

>>1239427
Oh, and we should probably mention all this to Toast at some point

Damn.

"No visual contact, I repeat no visual contact. Attempting to locate you by radio signal. I take
it you're in some shit right now over."

"Copy that. I take you are a lady? A charming lady? Should I just keep talking?"

"Talk, sing, whatever."

"S-sing? What do I sing?"

"Just keep making noise."

"Oh. Alright."

You twist the steel enough that the radio tower enters broadcasting mode. The way down the
stairs is silent, however, and somehow feels longer than before. This time you walk straight
to Roomba, however, only to clear both her and the tiny templar from the old ship wheel they've
set as an alternative cruising method. Gotta admit, feels pretty cool moving this thing.

"I don't want to set the world on fire... I just want to start... a flame in your heart."

The Friend turns lazily under the savage rain as
you spin the wooden wheel. The rain punishes
its static frame of steel and glass right outside the cockpit's great window right in front of you.

"In my heart I have but one desire... and that one is you.... no other will do..."

A thunder booms. Maybe Atma took the chance to grab onto Roomba. You feel at least six
heads right behind you (and someone's long hair over your shoulder) as you follow the song
across the storm. It must be dawning; the black sky is now gray.

"Nielly, what's going on?" You hear some toaster wonder behind you.

"Picked up some guy on the radio. Must be a buttler. Told him to sing. I'm trying to get a
visual."

"I've lost all ambition... all wordly aclaim..."

"And it's not fucking working."

"I just want to be the one you love."

Another deafening blast clouds the rest of the song, It comes back.

"T-that was SO CLOSE!" Aaand it's Vaal, grabbing onto you the exact same way one
holds onto a plank in the middle of the ocean. Not only her; you seem to be buried under a
mass of raging lesbians.

Yet your eyes widen.

It's small, it's almost as if every drop of rain sunk it further; but you can clearly see, at the
distance-

"I'll have reached the goal I'm dreaming of, believe me..."

-a smoking little steel bird, lost between gray and rain.

>>1239570
Note to self: monologue at all these idiots until they realize how stupid they are for worrying about a bit of lightning. Even if the dEKE field failled the ships hull would... Another time. Save it for another time Nielly.

Let's get back on the radio then, dragging our lump of lesbians leg leaches along with if need be. "You can stop singing I think we've got a visual on you now. I'd have been quicker to return but it seems something about piloting a ship through a thunder storm while a sappy love song plays in the background has me drowning in women. I take it you're the smoking ship out there?"

Lesbians fall at your every step as you grumble your way across the aisle. While climbing the
radio tower ladder you realize only Preah remains riding your back, her old cat features
unphased as you glare at her over your shoulder. As your head and Preah's pop from
the small latch hole, you realize Trash beat you to the radio. The templar's inspecting the
machinery, the old song still making the air dense. Stare fixed, you walk up to the
microphone.

"You can stop singing now, I think we've got a visual on you now." Yet it still sings. "I'd have
been quicker to return but it seems something about piloting a ship though a thunder storm
while a sappy love song ays in the background has me drowning in women. I take it you're the
smokin ship out there?"

The response is instant. "Happy to hear that, happy for you -------see smoke from here, yes.
Is it, by any chance ---zzz--- this ship?"

"Yeah." It's Trash. "Buddy, hear me out; we can help you out." Her voice is loud and clear, even
if her face is as blank as usual. "We need you to state your situation as clearly as possible. I
repeat, state your situation as clearly as poss-"

"O-oh, I'm afraid I won't be of much help there. You see, fine sir; I am a hat."

Both you and Trash share a long, silent look. Then turn to the microphone at the same time.

Trash speaks in force, yet slow and softly."If we do not understand your situation clearly
enough to plan on it, we will not take the risk to save you. I repeat, state your situation as
clearly as possible, over."

"No hate from here, good man." The butler's voice echoes across the Friend, burying the rain
behind it. "Allow me--- collect myself, alright? Alright? I-I'll work something out for you."

The three of you just silently stare at the microphone at the radio tower. Besides the
wires and steel, the room has a single window right behind you; it's tarnished, lit only by
thunder every now and then. You wait. A hint of static draws your eyes back at the hanging
microphone.

"We've been raided. I'm right over my partners head who's sitting in the main cockpit."

"Cock-pit." Trash whispers under her breath. You raise an eyebrow.

"I know who they were, I've seen the bastards faces, they want this to look like an accident. I
don't know how my partner's faring. He's been very quiet."

"Is he breathing?" you ask.

"Just barely."

"What kind of an accident?" Trash asks.

The silence lasts. "I cannot be sure. No weapons were fired against the Wings; all
damage has been internal. We heard a loud noise over the roof, and that's how I knew
we've been jumped on. Did not help much knowing, eh? Copy?"

The templar looks at you. "Bet my ass it's the Second." She turns to the microphone, and her
voice changes. "We NEED to know what has been done to your ship. Do you have ANY
clue? ANY way of assessment?"

The voice now sounds dim, perhaps even a bit euphoric. "---Afraid my legs are sleeping, fine
man. Hopefully."

(Cont!)

"Is the EKE on?" You ask.

"It is."

"How long have you been there?"

"Three hours, forty eight minutes, and six, seven, eight..."

"Means we shouldn't rush." Trash states under her breath, just high enough for you to hear her.
She looks at you from the side. "We shouldn't jump blindly into this anyway, we don't know
what they did to that ship or why. Could be an ambush, even."

"I could go." The soft voice at your other side manages to startle you just enough to make
you glare, yet your crimson eyes and Preah's little smile seem to be dimensions apart. She
goes on, pacing each word. "The hat can only look in front. I could go down over the ship and
look inside from the outside."

"Lets see," Trash scratches her blonde hair, "we've got a small ship in the middle of
nowhere, under the rain, that's smoking, in place, has a talking hat, has been there a few
hours, and has been sabotaged instead of shot off the sky. This is a mop thing for sure." She
nods, and nods. "We've got the time, we could make a little list of ideas on what to do."

"That would be very interesting," Preah states, her chin suddenly resting over your shoulder.
You step aside, roughly, to let her fall a bit.

>>1240860

Ask which house he is in.

>>1240991
Good idea, where the heck is the cockpit on this hat's ship?

If it was the second then I get the feeling they used the same gas they did on the himehorns so they could attack unmolested outside of a few fakes, like our talking hat here. No mention of a fight, but the fact that the hat saw them seems to confirm my theory. Gas them, fuck some things up, peace out, and maybe even go do it a few more times today.

So unless they're sitting there waiting for some helpful fools to walk in and fuck us up we've got a toxic environment and some repairs to make. Waiting three hours in the middle of a storm like this just for us seems a bit excessive so I'm willing to bet they've fucked off by now. It doesn't hurt that two of the three candidates for actually landing don't need to breathe. Preah and I could check it out first and bring lumina in after securing the ship. I can make a list of repairs needed as we sweep the ship and lumina and I can split the work from there. Toast can camp the radio and chat with the hat, and you Trash can talk her out of doing anything too stupid in my place.

If they where trying to make it look like an accident then I doubt they left traps behind but it's still a good idea to keep a sharp eye out for anything fishy looking.

Anyone else have ideas or comments?

>>1241229

Time to go in

>>1241229

Like all roamers, the Friend is a tower of engines. Tall and slim, its top width starts at the
roof and then goes down with the height. It's very natural, then, that its horizontal flying
speed feels this unnerving. The windshields move from side to side in front of Atma, as she
gently spins the wooden wheel right in front of the wall wide window, which arches as if trying
to hug her. The window eases a panoramic view of the raging storm outside, yet from
behind the tiny templar your crimson eyes are fixed on a single spot under the rain.
That's when something pats your back and you turn to Toast lifting a glass at you. You open
your mouth, but it's a mocachinno. You take it.

Roomba looks around. Everyone is gathered behind the wheel and the cockpit, looking
though the thick, window: Roomba, you, Trash, Vaal, Preah, Atma, the hornmother- and Moody
seems to be on the roof yet. Maybe she has to stay there. Wahrio is nowhere to be seen. "We
should add a few chairs in here too," she says.

"If it was the Second," you raise your voice until they are all looking, "then I get the feeling
they used the same gas they did on the himehorns, so they could attack unmolested
outside of a few Fakes, like our talking hat here." You look at each of them as you talk.
Something on the way Trash is looking makes you consider she's paying your freckles more
attention than you. "No mentions of a fight, but the fact that the hat saw them seems to
confirm my theory. Gas them, fuck some things up, and maybe even go do it a few times more
today."

Vaal raises a finger and opens her mouth, but it's Trash's voice you hear. "Couldn't be. Hat
said it heard those guys falling over them, that's an instant dEKE trigger for anyone." Vaal walks
behind Trash. "The gas won us over because we were breathing, you don't breathe when
using a dEKE, you get FEMA liquid on your lungs and try not to puke."

Trash stops talking and turns around to look, calmly; nobody says a thing. By now a small
circle of lesbians has formed, excepting Vaal who's hugging the biggest templar from behind-
who seems not to notice. Silence ensues, so you take your cue.

"Unless they're sitting there waiting for some helpful fools to walk in and fuck us up we've
got a toxic enviroment and some repairs to make. Waiting three hours in the middle of a
storm like this just for us seems a bit excessive so I'm willing to bet they've fucked off by now.
It doesn't hurt that two of the three candidates for actually landing don't need to breathe. Preah
and I could check it out first and bring Lumina in after securing the ship. I can make a list of
repairs needed as we sweep the ship and Lumina and I can split the work from there.
Toast can camp the radio and chat with the hat, and you Trash can talk her out of doing
anything too stupid in my place."

"Hmp." Roomba gives you this little glare, getting both hands on her waist.

(Cont!)

The faint ticking of the raging storm outside makes the Friend feel like a shield from this
world. Roomba comes and goes, bringing tea or coffee, yet Moody is still nowhere to be seen.

"We are ruling out the ambush, then." Trash shakes her short blonde hair. "Not buying it.
Sure there's a storm outside a what-not, but these are desperate fucks." She goes "hmm",
gently biting the side of her finger. "If you wanna check that ship out," so her voice
comes out kinda muffled, "both you and Preah would be fine unless the ship explode. We
could go above it either halo it or go rope. You girls can talk, too." She looks around, drawing a
grin from Atma and a nothing from Preah, just as Roomba comes out with yet another cup of
coffee. It's gently grabbed by a white, slender hand coming from under Trash's armpit, and
then removed. "Okay."

"Trash?" Roomba asks, smiling at her.

"Biscuits." Trash nods at her then looks at you as she leaves. "So this hat says the EKE is on,
but there's smoke coming out of the ship. This has me scared. That means the EKE isn't on.
Which means that, since that guy is still alive, is dEKE is still on. So he was knocked out
while wearing the dEKE." The templar reaches behind and pushes Vaal to her side, Preah
steps a bit aside to give her space. "Corny, I need input."

"That is very weird, true," Vaal starts, scratching next to her eye, "but the hat thought
the EKE was on. That's what got my attention."

"And, it can only look right in front of it at the cockpit." Now it's Atma, pointing a finger
upwards. Her long silver hair hides her other arm from sight. "Do I have to say it?" She
doesn't smile, but her eyes are sparkling.

"You'll have to be more specific," Trash asks. "Can you?"

Atma shakes her head, unburying her arm. "The engine as been messed with. As in how, I can't
say."

"So smart!" Roomba beams at Atma, who blanks then laughs like an idiot in turn.

Your turn. "If they were trying to make it look like an accident then I doubt they left traps
behind but it's still a good idea to keep a sharp eye out for anything fishy-looking," you point
out.

"Yeah." Trash nods at you. "So what's the plan?"

>>1243615

REEEE!
Y U NO USE TWITTER TO ANNOUNCE ANYMORE?

>>1243740

ashdjkashdjka it's just a test! Just a test!!

>>1243856
7 threads?
Is it?
Is it now?

>>1243863
I'm shaking the rust off! I couldn't write for like a month. Next serious thread will be announced. I swear.

>>1243883
...
A'rite then!

>>1243615
"Engine at least, maybe the EKE generator, controls, hell they could have decided to fuck the air conditioner too for all we know. Given all that I think it's best if Preah and I check it out first and radio back an all clear. I want to rope in for sure, nothing worse than being stuck on a sinking and/or exploding ship waiting to be picked up."

>>1244730

You cross your arm over your chest, almost striking a pose as your hair flickers. "Engine at
least, maybe the EKE generator, controls, hell they could have decided to fuck the air
conditioner too for all we know. Given all that I think it's best if Preah and I check it out first
and radio back an all clear." You close your eyes. Looking at all these idiots isn't cheap. "I
want to rope in for sure. Nothing worse than being stuck on a sinking and/or exploding ship
waiting to be picked up."

"Ok." Preah's tiny smile is almost subtle.

Trash looks at you from the side. "Worst case scenario ship goes boom and you go back to
being a headset. And pray the rope is sturdy. It takes a while to fall, and another while to reach
the domains from the surface."

"We have some equipment for underwater retrieval," Atma adds. "it would do as long as it
doesn't engage anything. If you don't mind, Nielly, we can also equip you with compressed
life-savers."

"That's cool stuff, nice." Trash nods, and nods. "Any other bright ideas, seriously- nothing is too bad."

Silence ensues. One of the templar's eye twitches.

Roomba gets a hand behind her nape. "Sorry! You two are too good at this."

"I'm going to jump into a burning ship." Preah's voice and gestures seem completely devoid of
intent or irony. You give up staring at her soon.

"Cool." Trash deadpans. "Skullfucker, get us over that ship."

(Cont!)

In the end, your choice didn't matter; the "life-savers" are under your arms. Those are flimsy,
slim, rugged, and very orange. And besides that, you are less than two feet away from
falling half heaven, only a tiny smoking bird
between you and a shit-load of water. Next to you, Preah is wearing the same dense bag you
are, both about to fall like rain.

And you are not scared.

No, no.

Hyped, you give the endless sky far and wide the biggest smile with your shining shark teeth.
You are a Fake.

"Alright guys, we'll do this nice and slow." It's Trash's voice from the headsets. Funny; those
are the same you were. "This is the farthest we can get without getting inside the likely range of
explosion. Start this up."

Preah simply jumps from the ramp, the pale white rope hisses from the wheel far behind.
That didn't seem nice and slow, though, and yet you find yourself jumping too, the wind soaring
as it fails to hold you. As you look far into the rain and sunset, you realize the rope is steadily
slowing your fall, the grip getting stronger as you near the Wings. The ship grows bigger by
the second, and each second it grows a bit bigger than the last- until you feet almost bury
into the skin of the ship's skin. Preah's fall, on the other hand, made no sound whatsoever; like
a feather, gently gliding into the grass.

You pat your headset. It's its new custom trigger. "We landed."

"Great job!" Trash's voice suddenly strikes you as both too cheerful and too lively. "Is Preah all
right too?"

"I am so very much ok." It's Preah's voice, both from her mouth and the headset.

"I never know what you are saying." "Trash" rumbles. "Try to be serious!"

"I'm leaving Roomba in charge of operations for now." Now that's a Trash, even with a
background thunder as souvenir. "We are leaving our asses spread wide like this, do
hurry pretty fucking please."

Your hair is getting wet. "Preah, Nielly, we need you to tell us anything you can see inside the
ship. Lumina is here with me, if anything is off about the ship I'm sure she'll piece it togueter."

"One, the EKE is off, and two, thank you, we already know that." You words struggle against
the wind. You glance at the horizon; the dense gray clouds are pretty much right over your
head, and some at the distance would even be under this ship. The smoke, as you can tell,
comes from the front of the ship. Looking straight into the cockpit won't be easy. "What
else do we know about this ship?" you ask, looking at the side.

"The EKE is off, you can get inside from everywhere." It's Atma. "This model is very
small as you can tell, barely a single room thirty feet long and ten feet wide, the rest being ship
flesh. It has a hangar door, a single side door at the left, and two more windows at each side of
the center of the ship. How will you go about this?"

(Cont!)

You smash the small wheel between your feet, the spike underneath holding it in place. It acts
as a small version of the big rope wheel at the ship; you can modulate it via remote. You find it
very useful as you drop to the side of the ship, where the window should be. As the wheel
slowly turns, you go down, and it isn't long until you find yourself staring straight into Preah,
who's staring at you from behind the other window. The Arma waves at you. You don't
wave back.

You pat the headset. "From my side, this literally looks like a wood shack inside a ship."

"I confirm." Preah adds. "This looks very comfortable. The walls have been dressed in
fake wood."

"That sounds so nice, I wish I could see!" It's Toast. A throat is cleared very near her. "Do
any of you notice anything suspicious from where you are?"

"I can't see shit." you respond, quietly.

"I can't see shit." it's your exact same voice from somewhere else. "Let's check the main
window."

"Got it."

A few moments later, you smash the small wheel into the ship's head, right before Preah
does. You both take small little leaps to go down into the smoke until feets hit glass. After
some little slow descent, you find yourself facing where the glass should be, you bury both
hands into the smoke and you feel glass, you get your face into it and your cheek hits it.
That's when you see it; the cockpit, the chair, the sleeping man. The hat. Barely just seeing
the thing, you assume Toast would love it.

"Oooooh, the hat is strange." It's Preah, both from your right and your left. No wonder; it has
a crap-ton of details.

"What else do you see?" It's Trash, her voice a tad bit rash.

"A very lot of nice round buttons. Just the way I like them." Preah says.

You hear some background sound. "Look for a big black square button. Should be under a long
dual lever." It's Lumina. "Tell me which of the small lights, the green and red, are lit."

"Both," Preah says.

The radio goes silent for a while. "I think I should go down there." Lumina states, finally.

"Haha yeah, fuck that it's not safe." And it's Trash. "That piece of shit could blow up any
second now and, let me remind you, your bones aren't made of TITANIUM."

"We could go in there," Preah adds. "It looks very comfortable."

"And that shit is dangerous too." Trash almost bellows. "Trigger traps are some real shit right
now. If this hat fuck was to escape, you
think they'd rather leave it alive than let
everyone know they killed him?"

Hmm... that is the question, then.

>>1245199
"I would assume the hat didn't shout vows of retribution at the little shits it saw, but I'm all too prepared to be wrong about that"

So the ship may or may not be trapped. The pilot is out cold with his dEKE on, and we have smoke coming from somewhere below and/or upwind of us. What is causing that smoke is going to be good to know, and might refute the hypothesis of the second being behind it. Lets go check that out first and then decide if it's a good idea to go in or not

It's all damn smoke. "I would assume the hat didn't shout vows of retribution at the little shits
it saw, but I'm all too prepared to be wrong about that."

You hear the perfect sound of a Trash pushing a Roomba out of the way. "I'm dead fucking sure
it wouldn't still be talking if it had, but what are you going to do now?"

"We have smoke coming from somewhere below us," you state matter-of-factly, as if the
smoke could come out from your headset to theirs. "Let's check that out first, then we
decide."

"That seems very easy." That sharp sound must be Preah's rope unwiring from its wheel.
You wait calmly amidst the gray smoke, and it isn't long before the speakers are twitching
again. "Ooooooh, this is very interesting." She pauses, and just as you are about to talk... "It's
like a puzzle, but the pieces are scrambled and something sticky is leaking into my face."

"What color is it?" It's Lumina's voice, and for a second there you forget your legs are hanging
half a planet away from a splash. Must be the smoke.

"I think it's yellow. A bright yellow." Preah says. "It's leaking a lot. Maybe it needs it."

Trash sighs hard. "Preah for fucks sake, Lumina what does that mean?"

"That yellow liquid is a marker, it's used to tell the EKE field where do you want it to go. It's all
around the ships, right behind every wall. The EKE field is off."

"So?" Trash blurts out.

"I can't be sure. Sorry. Please don't get angry with me."

A pause, and then a long, wide sigh. Roomba is there, though. Trash's voice comes out again.
"Up to you, Beamy. Preah isn't the one at risk there."

>>1248527
"What do you think caused it Preah? Does it look like ramming damage? an explosive? A what grabbing spare parts? Likewise, unless the marker is boiling or something that doesn't explain the smoke. That's the important thing here, what caused the damage and is it actually on fire or not.?

I assume that leak is going to have to be patched up eventually, if it hasn't blown up in Preah's face yet I'm assuming its not intentionally trapped. I'm going to go take a look myself and see what I'll need to patch it. Also, the hat hasn't said anything so far has it?"

Up to any emergency shutoff valves, I'm guessing a good bit of that marker fluid has already been lost. Fortunately getting the stuff back to flowing shouldn't take too much work unless it needs some ultra precise pipe work. Didn't bring anything to deal with it being on fire though... Oh well.

You pat the headset twice again for good measure, as the rain pierces the rain and bangs
in your hair. "What do you think caused it Preah? Does it look like ramming damage? An
explosive? A What grabbing spare parts?"

"It looks as if someone was looking for something and it found it." she says.

"That was the EKE generator," Lumina's voice hurries to state, from the speaker, "that's how
they got inside the ship."

It's Roomba. "Doesn't that mean that the generator is outside the EKE field? Why did
they have it that way? If it was inside, the very EKE field would protect it."

"You can't be-" Trash starts talking, but gets trampled on Atma, "Roomba, that's be-" who
gets clearly muffled my Lumina instead. "All EKE fields must be generated at the same level
the generator is, which means every single EKE field has a weak spot. You can't generate
the EKE field over it, that EKE field wouldn't be stable. So it's usually hidden from sight."

"That settles it." Preah calmly states, as if she wasn't calm all the time.

That explains the smoke, there's not enough room for doubt to keep wondering. "The
important thing here," you say, happy for lacking lungs, "what caused the damage and is
it actually on fire?"

"It is."

Hmm. Pressing your cheek against the window, you give the cockpit another look. The hat is
very still. "I assume that leak is going to have to be patched up eventually if it hasn't blown
up in Preah's face yet I'm assuming it's not intentionally trapped. I'm going to go take a look
myself and see what I'll need to patch it. Also, the hat hasn't said anything so far has it?"

"It has been very quiet," the Toast inquires. "Hat friend? Are you there yet? I don't know
how should I call you." There's something about the rhythm in Roomba's voice that gives away
her social specialization.

"'Top Notch is how they call me,' Farially is my name." As it talks, you see no moving mouth
from behind the tarnished, crying window. It's slightly disappointing.

You leave the hat to talk with the toaster and let the rope flow freely from the wheel. Once below
the smoke, you find the Arma next to the source of gray clouds, her long legs meekly idling
over a dying cloud below her. She looks at you and waves, as her right hand is literally buried
inside the ship. Preah's arms are very long, and her hands twice as big as anyone else's.

"So let me get this straight," you hear from the headset- wait, it's Trash again. "you want to fix
the ship's EKE field?"

"There should be a spare tank for the yellow liquid somewhere," says Lumina. "Somewhere
near the main EKE generator."

You see Preah nibbling on a finger. "I don't see it."

"It's so it's routed via cockpit commands and spare the pilots all the hassle of replacing it."
Atma's voice beams from the other side.

"Wait. Nielly." It's Trash. "What are you trying to do?"

"I don't bite," Preah sings, now beckoning at you. That's when you realize no tools at hand
will let you get under the ship.

>>1250372
"Tools at hand" pfft. I'm a walking talking hydraulic death machine. "Hey Preah, how thick is the hull and how much of a gap is there before you hit important looking stuff?"

If there is enough room to do it and not cause more trouble I'll just make my own hand and foot holds by hand and climb down. Should be able to get quite a solid grip that way to climb down there, and maybe crawl in too.

>>1251125

"Tools at hand," you say out loud, grinning. Pff. Your tools are your hands, fuck that. "Hey
Preah, how thick is the hull? And how much of a gap is there before you hit important looking
stuff?"

"Half an arm." Your eyes slide to the Arma's arms; those are long. Her idling hand, big as a
head, reaches her knee. "I can carry you."

"No thanks," you say as your fingers straight into the hull, your eyes still fixed on Preah. The
Arma keeps staring with that half-dead smile as you climb the belly of the ship like a ladder,
taking turns to sink your hands and feet into the steel. "Meow", you state once you reach her,
your hair upside-down.

"Ooooooooooooooh." Preah nods. "The Nielly is hardcore." You stare into the smoking hole, and
of damn course, she can't see the thing- it's all smoke in there! "I think it's broken.

>>1251504
"Fuck."
Wait a bit and try to piece things together from whatever you can see when the wind blows the smoke away. If that takes too long just feel it out, if they came in through here then it can't be that dangerous.

"Fuck," you declare, to the endless sea.

In the world of the mirror, you would be sitting. It's not even an effort for you to remain in that
position, not even upside-down and with the wind howling against you- one thing you can't
curse the Sansui's for. One.

Preah seems to find that to be funny, so she buries both her hands into the frame and does
the same thing. "This seems like an interesting plan."

"Which one?" It's Trash's voice from the speaker.

"Waiting." It's like you and Preah share a bonfire, except that the rain is going to the sky
while earth breaths the smoke. The Arma stares at you as usual, meekly and without
intent. Preah doesn't seem to mind staring straight into your eyes, but at the same time, it
doesn't feel like she actually is. It's somewhat unnerving.

"Waiting for what, the hat said this ship has been like this for three or four fucking hours."
Trash's voice sounds almost taunting. Almost. "It could be going down any damn second
now!"

"I don't mind." Preah's still looking at your eyes.

"The smokes makes seeing damn-near impossible." You say. "I could just feel it out, if
they came in through here then it can't be that dangerous."

"I don't think they did." It's Lumina's voice. "They could have. Once the EKE is down you
can enter through anywhere."

"Ooooooh, but I think they did," Preah adds. "We have a disagreement. I won't drink from
your hot chocolate after this."

So they could have entered through anywhere...

"Anyway," Trash cuts Preah fast and nice, "what's the idea? You want to fix the EKE or
what?"

if (rainingSound && grumblingSound)
{
araAra = true;
if(door == isClosed)
door = isOpen;
for(i=0;grumbling == 0; i++)
{
Array cup = new Array[];
cup.add(milk);
cup.add(chocolate);
cup.add(espresso);
Nielly = cup;
};
araAra = false;
};

>>1251708
"They could have entered from anywhere, but if they hit this spot in person why bother going around to someplace else? Why I'm trying to get a better look at this damn wreck, and why I've been asking this _incredibly_ *helpful* Arma here about the details of it. And if it's been sitting here for three fucking hours Trash, what makes you think 3 more minutes is going to send it to the abyss? Fuck it, I'm going to need to grab a bunch of tools to fix this anyways. Lumina, where's the nearest hatch on this thing? We may as well wake up the Hat's legs before I go fixing shit"

Somewhere, there's rain. And thunder. Somewhere, dense smoke flows from the belly
of a ship. Somewhere, someone grumbles.
That someone is you. "They could have entered
from anywhere, but if they hit this spot in
person why bother going around to someplace else?"

"Because /someone/ could have a god-damned pulsar fucking rifle!" Yup, it's Trash. "You don't
want that shit aiming at you, Nielly!"

"Why I'm trying to get a better look at this damn wreck, and why I've been asking this
_incredibly_ **helpful** Arma here about the details of it." The Arma that gives you this little
grin as she blinks. "And if it's been sitting here for three fucking hours Trash, what makes you
think three more minutes is going to send it to the abyss?"

"Cause fucking gravity won't wait for you, that's why." Trash warns.

"I agree with Nielly on this, what makes you think it's going down?" It's Atma.

"What makes you think it won't?"

"That it has been there three hours?"

"That's exactly why it's going down!"

"But it's still there, it has been for three hours!"

"Fuck it." You decide. "I'm going to need to grab a bunch of tools to fix this anyway. Lumina."

"I'm here."

"Where's the nearest hatch on this thing?" you ask.

"Should be near, that model has a wide exit for hovercrafts at the rear. It has a small side
entrance too, with a ladder."
"We may as well wake up the Hat's legs before
I go fixing shit," you state. Staring at Preah's hair flowing upwards is somewhat mesmerizing,
it's really longer than you thought and, while it's mostly blue all around, some of its threads
constantly change into bright colors

"Should I go down there?" Lumina asks. While you lack in specific ship-ship skills, you can
more than put things together with your mentality. Yet Lumina might prove ten times
better than you at this, and, should you have to fight time, she might get the diagnosis way
faster than you if she's here.

However, if she comes down... well, Lumina's not a Fake. Neither Moody.

>>1252407
"Give it a bit, let me and Preah stomp around first, trip any wires, booby any traps, and then you should be good to drop in. Meanwhile would you mind grabbing a drill and a 1/8th bit, the hand riveter (and 1/8th rivets), some sheet metal, and a fire extinguisher and toss them in a bag for me? I'll be adding to that list as I go, so by the time I've finished checking everything out it'll be the perfect time for you to drop in with them. Feel free to toss in anything you'll find handy too."

Let's go find that hatch then. I'll open it a bit, very carefully of course, poking around for any triplines and such.

>>1252821
"Give it a bit," you answer Lumina, picturing her pale face. "Let me and Preah stomp around
first, trip any wires, booby any traps, and then you should be good to drop in."

"You know I'm just wondering here, in case I miss anything," Trash's voice flickers, "but if
you wanted to be blown to ten thousand million pieces you just had to ask."

"Meanwhile, would you mind grabbing a drill and a 1/8th bit, the hand riveter- and the 1/8th
rivets," just in case, "some sheet metal, and a fire extinguisher and toss them in a bag for
me?"

"I'll handle that," it's a tiny templar's voice. "You stay, Lumina, you are really good at this!"

"Thank you."

"Feel free to toss sin anything you'll find handy too."

"So you DO want to be blown to ten thousand million pieces," Trash adds, almost mockingly.

"Just tell the hedgehog-fuckers I don't want nipples this time". Your lips twists. Maybe it's a
smile. "I'll be adding to that list as I go, so by the time I've finished checking everything out
it'll be the perfect time for you to drop in with them."

"Ok."

"Preah." You look at the Arma; she nods. Leaving deep dents every two feet, you stop as
you notice the cracks in the hull right in front of your hand. Yet Preah keeps on going; the Arma
only stops at the very center of the ramp.

"It's locked," you let her know.

Preah gives her odd usual grin "Not for long."

The ramp is then ripped from the ship, and you stare in absolute neutrality as Preah falls in it
towards the surface. It's a slow process. It even gets boring after a while, so you look
around towards the clouds, the occasional thunder, the rain that follows Preah. Splash.

"I hope that rope is long," It's Preah's voice, across a lot of static.

"What was that?" It's the Toast. Quietly, you lean into the ramp. The insides are only lit by
the calming sunset that makes it across the cloud, but fuck that you are a Fake. Triggering
your very own, very scarlet eyes, you look around the whole thing. And to you, it looks
perfectly safe. "Nielly? Preah?"

You jump inside, just to make sure. "Someone is in. Is that you? Any of you?" The voice is that
of a butler and comes both from your headset and from the hat right in front of you. "H-hello?"

"It's me." You walk up to the hat while carefully looking around, poking the seats and steel
furniture; nothing happens. Nothing explodes.

"Nielly! Preah! What's going on?!" Toast.

You check the cockpit right next to the hat, and
it wouldn't take a genie to realize the ship's fuel is about to die.

On the other hand, that hat looks amazing.

>>1255444
About to die even in hover mode? About how long is left? And what's the Hat's legs look like?

>>1255658
You look to the side. "Moody, I think I'm looking at the fuel bar. Is it the one like a half-circle?
Green color?"

"Yes," Lumina replies.

"The red arrow is almost all the way down. Angle should be something around 265
degrees," you say as you squint your eyes at the cockít. "How much until I'm swimming with
Armas?"

"Please look at the indicator right next to that one. It's a bit smaller; it's the spare fuel for
hover mode." There must be like one hundred different, specific ship models by now.. maybe
the cockpits are similar in some? "Where does the arrow point in that one?"

"Upwards," you say.

"Then you can force that fuel into the main engine. It's meant for at least ten hours of static
hovering, it won't add much time in these conditions."

"How do I do that?" You ask.

"Press it. It's also a button."

You do that. Nothing happens.

"Nothing happens," you grumble.

"Keep it pressed."

You do. Steadily, the arrow starts dwindling down, as the arrow of the main fuel starts shaking... at least a little bit.

"It only went up by five degrees, that being generous," you rumble. "How much did that help?"

"Every degree is approximately five minutes."

It ends at 270. You look at the hat, then right under it; a man is sleeping-

You raise your eyebrows; under the hat lies an old man, his chest barely growing. The hat
covers the eyes, yet you get to behold its thick white beard and mustache. Hmm, so those kind
of legs.

"Nielly, could you please report?" It's the Toast. You picture Trash right behind her, one of the
templar's massively grown.

>>1255795
Haremhorn, could we get a description of what a Hat is? What a Legs is seems pretty obvious.

>>1255795
"We're in the cockpit now along with Hat and Legs, more important than their EKE is that their fuel is basically down to nothing. I'm guessing they didn't have time to drop to hover-mode. Judgement call on this one Toast, Legs looks to be pretty old here, like great grandpa kinda old here."

Make sure grandpa Legs can breathe freely, nodding off can kink you airway and I'm guessing Legs here could use what help he can get.

>>1255829
Hat is the super detailed talking hat, currently sitting atop Leg's head. I don't use normal names because fuck trying to keep track of them. Everyone else can just learn and deal, they make sense to me.

>>1255829
In this case, an actual hat. The actual description would be: a leatherly-looking hat that has a few black rags, more black than brown in colour. Pointy; it bends right before the top. Tall, has two belts go around it diagonally; those hold small pouches in place, some seem to have tools inside. Two thick and very round glasses rest at its bottom, those are of a strong orange, yet the frame is black and thick. Has a few more gadgets around it, namely something that resembles a small walkie-talkie hanging right under the top belt.

As for what it is? Let's just say our Nielly has some cogs and screws inside of her, as well. :D

>>1255892
Ok. I was wondering if it was some new species like Whats or Anythings.

>>1255869
"We're in the cockpit now along with Hat and Legs, more important than their EKE is that
their fuel is basically down to nothing."

Trash: "At least it's in one smoking piece."

"I'm guessing they didn't have time to drop to hover-mode. Judgment calls on this one Toast,
Legs looks to be pretty old here, like great grandpa kinda old here." You place a cold hand
under the old man's chin, then gently lift it upwards. Sure, you can't blow shit to pieces
like Arma do, but you have millimetric control over your own strength. Preah doesn't- and
where is she now?

T: "Good call there, Beamy. Toasty; the time has come for you to finally do your job. I told
you I wouldn't be making this kind of choices."

Roomba: "I know. This is what I wanted."

T: "Good to hear that."

A: "We are with you, Roomba!"

L: "Yes."

T: "Yes?"

R: "Thank you. Nielly?"

You'd yawn if you could. "Yes?"

R: "Please retrieve the Fake and the old man, we are going to move the Friend under their
ship. Lumina, is there a way to get their ship inside the Friend?"

L: "Yes. The easiest way would be to reactivate the EKE shield. We could attract the ATTR
liquid inside the Wings by triggering a strong EKE inside our hangar at the bottom. Matching
the altitude of the ships, however, could prove challenging. Roamer types aren't ready for
these kind of procedures."

T: "So the ships could crash."

L: "At worst, it would leave some dents in our ship."

R: "Atma, please place the Friend under their ship. We are getting them out first."

A "Right away, Cap'n!"

R: "Um... if anyone has an opinion or a question..."

>>1255944
... Yeah, that's a perfectly reasonable thing to wonder about really. I'm just capitalizing them as I'm now using them as names. Like Toast, or Beans.

>>1256035
Based on what I know about EKE systems (a decent theoretical amount I assume) would it function without flow through the marker lines? Because if I can just stop the leaks and get it working well enough to keep the two ships from crashing then I can just go spider-fake over, crush the ends of the pipes shut by hand, and have Preah standby to boot it back up. If not then we'll need to get those pipes back together and fast... That or very carefully match the altitudes. If Lumina could rope into the hole we made to get into the cockpit then she might be able to pull off that kind of flying. Might. Improvisation time if not! I hope this guy has duck tape...

You look at Hat and Legs resting at the main cockpit's comfy chair. Whoever did this shit
took every measure to ensure this looks like an accident- Legs' right hands rests at the chair's
arm rest, a cigarette hanging between his fingers. "Would it function without the marker
lines?"

L: You mean the ATTR liquid. No, it wouldn't. The mechanism has to be fixed first. for the
EKE to be stable.

V: Hi there, I've been hearing your little chat aaaand I'm the perfect solution to al of your
problems!

T: You know ship stuff?

V: No! And 'No!' in spanish. ATTR liquid attracts EKEs, right? I'm an AD user, so I have
a dEKE! Oh, but there's the stability issues, so the ships don't clash- Nope! That's fixed too!
Just by manipulating my own weight I can move the ship with me, up and down- just get
me in there!"

R: That's so brilliant, you are great Vaal!"

V: Ha, but of course.

T: We'll need to focus a lot of our own ATTR liquid at a single point for the Wings to even
vibrate, that being so close the fucking ships would be practically hugging. And that keeping
in mind that the liquid will attract /you/, not the ship itself."

V: "I know. Sounds like a plan right?"

T: "Your call, Toasty."

R: "Um, well, it sounds pretty good to me! Nielly?"

A: "Nielly, I've sent what you requested down there, it should have arrived by now. There's
also a first-aid kit in there in case the poor man isn't doing well."

"I could just stop the leaks and get it working well enough to keep the two ships from
crashing," you speak, inspecting the ship for anything, just in case, "then I can just go
spider-fake over, crush the ends of the pipes, shut by hand, and have Preah standby to boot it
back up. If not," you shrug, at the sleeping man, "and Blanky's plan doesn't work, we'll
need to get those pipes back together and fast... That or very carefully match the
altitudes."

V: "What for, just get me in there!"

T: "As long as we have the time, we'll first scrap for every single god-damned spec of idea
we can grab and squirm. How do you even plan on sticking to that ship with your dEKE?"

You walk around the ship. "If Lumina could rope into the hole we made to get into the cockpit
then she might be able to pull off that kind of flying." It's tiny, like a long room; the furniture
looks oddly comfortable and practical.

L: "I'm not that good at piloting... yet. Sorry."

R: "You'll learn, I'm sure of it! You really like ships!"

L "Yes. I do."

V: "Whatever, just get me in there!"

Patiently, you look though the front window, at the gray cloud and rain, at the little booming
thunders. Until the very own Friend covers the sight with all its might, and you find it took too
long for the sunrise to shine into you again. That thing is huge.

R: "Atma, are we in position?"

A: "Almost! Aaaaaand done, now we are!"

N: "Ok! We are ready!"

>>1256288
"I didn't hear any objections from Lumina, so I'm going with pinching the pipes shut as a temporary solution. Any idea where I would find the EKE generator proper Lumina? I'm going to clear a path to it and give it a look over really quick before grabbing the extinguisher and dealing with the pipes. Also, where the fuck are you Preah?"

>>1256454

"I didn't hear any objections from Lumina, so I'm going with pinching the pipes shut as a temporary solution." You say, still looking through at the empty sky through the tarnished glass.

A: "If you want to activate the EKE field again that would work, you'd need ATTR, but shouldn't you be getting that man here first?"

>>1256515
"I figured he could wait a bit... Eh, order doesn't matter that much. On my way up then."

"Oi Hat, If I squish you a bit is it going to hurt you? Because if I leave you on someones head then you're going to go flying as soon as we get outside."

>>1256546

"I figured he could wait a bit..." you scratch your head, simply because it's in your
programming. "Eh, order doesn't matter that much. On my way up then."

R: "I'll have a mochaccino waiting for you!"

"Oi Hat," The hat doesn't turn. Seems it can't. "If I squish you a bit is it going to hurt you?
Because if I leave you on someone's head then you're going to go flying as soon as we get
outside."

"No need, young gal," you hear, both from the hat's direction and the headset. "I'm sticky."

A: "Is it close enough yet?"

T: "Not yet."

A: "Now?"

T: "Wait until I tell you to stop."

A: "Ok!"

T: "STOP!"

A: "Sorry!"

R: "No need to be sorry Atma, it's very ok like this! Vaal, could you help them down into the
Friend?"

V: "Actually, uumm.."

T: "I'm going."

You don't even need to be careful as you lift the old man with the hat from the seat. His
garments are simple, almost like a fisherman's if there were still fish at the sea, so the hat
makes a lot of contrast. Without rush, you princess-carry to the man to the ramp, which by
now is simply a hole.

T: "What the fuck happened to that?"

You actually hear her, and as you lean forward you see her. Trash is wearing a very white
raincoat, it makes her look... innocent?

"Preah," you respond. "How will we get him, they, down?"

Trash shakes her head, and her voice from the speaker almost clouds the one from below.
"Where the fuck is Preah? Preah, where are you?"

P: I'm singing in the rain.

"Preah for FUCKS sake." You can clearly make out her every word just from the way her mouth
moves. "Just, just stay there for now."

"Trash, how do we get them down?" There's still some nice distance from this ship to theirs,
almost thirty feet.

"Is the guy's dEKE on?"

You poke at him. It feels wet in an odd way. "It is."

"I'm going to throw something at you. Drop the guy somewhere. Catch." She throws; it's a very
strong shot, yet you catch the bag without as much as blinking. As you do, you realize it's
trying to get out of your hand and, as you quickly notice, straight into the old man. "You
know what that is." Trash says from below.

"ATTR liquid."

"Just keep that near then drop the guy from the ship," Trash says as if nothing. "If the guy
doesn't come back to you from the fall, the attraction will fight gravity and ease his fall."

...Is that how it works?

>>1256761
"Right then, hold on you your Legs Hat!"
Slap the bag of ATTR on the guys back, take good aim, compensate for the wind, and gently toss the guy down to the deck. Clever trick really, I might have to play with some of this stuff later... Actually I've got a perfect use for it now that I think about it :3

"Right, then," you slap the bag to Legs's back, which sticks firmly in place, then lift man, bag,
and hat at once, "hold on to your Legs, Hat!"

"Uh? Nielly?! Are going fucki"

You care about Trash's words only a bit too late- just as the hat is screaming mid-air, as
the man spins at baffling speeds through the soaring winds. Like the rotor blade on a
helicopter that has just crashed against an airplane. Mouth and arms wide open, the
templar struggles to get in place so to receive the upcoming living shredder. A second later,
Trash is gone- both templar and hat are screaming from each one of your speakers, You
contemplate, in awe- almost in utmost respect for the million of years of develpment that took
for this single moment to be a reality- as the spinning ball of dEKE and anger flies into the horizon.

R: "Trash?! Mr. Hat?! What's going on, are you ok?!"

...maybe ATTR is a bit stronger than you think. Oh well, you shrug, If the ATTR liquid got Trash as well, it means the templar was wearing her dEKE. Both should be ok If she shares her anima with him. That being said, it's going to be one long fall...

File: Doodles.jpg (4 KB, 147x147)

4 KB JPG

>>1259087
*Sigh* "Listen Physics, I know humans have fucked you over pretty hard at times but there's no reason to take it out on Trash OK? Words like "Escape Velocity" and "the Inverse Squared Law" are slightly less mysterious than some goofy incantation made up by a witch to embarrass people out of trying to get them to help... speaking of which!"

With one hand over my memory core, snd one had raised in a solemn vow I incant: "As acting protagonist of this quest (whatever the fuck that means) I invoke the most ancient and dread rite of Doodles upon the events I have just witnessed." and watch the shitshow unfold.

You sigh.

"Listen Physics," you raise your arms towards the sky, in utmost irritability, "I know humans
have fucked you over pretty hard at times but there's no reason to take it out on Trash OK?"
Nobody answers. The wind howls. "Words like 'Escape Velocity' and 'the Inverse Squared
Law' are slightly less mysterious than some goofy incantation made up by a Witch to
embarrass people out of trying to get them to help... speaking of which!"

You shudder; sweat goes through your face. Even if you can't sweat. /Especially/ because
you can't sweat.

Only thinking about it was enough.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW WWWW YEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAHHHHHH!"

The deafening blast of sound turns shreds your clothes and any possible remaining Coldplay
album in the vicinity. Like was that really fucking necessary. You sit on your butt in awe
at the colossal black man that's spawning from the seas, covering your breasts with your arm
because it's in your programming and you can't help it.

R: Uh? M-my clothes!

A: Hey wha-what? IM NAKED?

V: I can see that!

T: OH GOD NO NO DOODLES NO FUCK OFF FUCK OFF

And it's stretching his massive, black
arms of gloriously big muscles, all across the
glorious sky.

And then it stops. And it's silent.

You blink. Nothing happens. You look around, from the hole Preah made in the Wings, and
nothing is moving.

That's when you turn around. A normal, yet somewhat dreadful girl in a simple black robe
(exactly the same the Sansuis wear!) is staring at you... in utmost boredom. As if you were
ordering a Big Mac and it was the third night in a row she can't get sleep in her bed.

"We need to talk. You and I." Her voice is the same you'd expect from a 22 years old tomboy,
her hair is long and black, her face a bit rough, and your Fake eyes reveal she has brackets.
She takes out a paper from under her sleeve, writes in it, burns it, and suddenly you are
wearing a cute kimono.

"Where?" she says, as if you had asked her for extra ketchup. "Just name a place, a
restaurant, whatever."

>>1259287
"Anywhere that makes a good moccachino. I'm not picky."

>>1259328
You know, it'd be great if they only kept your tripcode on one board so you don't look automatically look like a gigantic faggot everywhere else.

>>1259335

"Keeping track of your stupid nickname must be so awful. Like the worst thing ever," she says, and you barely even hear her.

You stare at her from the floor, just a tiny little bit more confused than before. Of course, you get it together, it's in your programming.

So you smile sharply. "Anywhe-"

"Done."

And you are in a restaurant.

(Cont!)

File: Himenap.png (180 KB, 599x426)

180 KB PNG

>>1259335
I know your pain. Kept tripfagging in other quests.

Its why I'm keeping mine off here now. Since I'm not holding the controller, I don't need to trip. I'll still throw ideas if I got 'em, until then, I'll just relax and wait for Doodles to finish his thing.

And not any restaurant. This isn't the Second. This /can't/ be the Second. Not even the
Second's Pinnacle is this fucking fancy.

Yet there she is, as much a ragged mess as half a minute before, sitting Indian style right
across the table. You, however, are sitting on your legs.

"Doodles is in charge of this timeline and I'm in charge of dealing with his fuckups." This time
her voice is loud and clear, and she's staring straight at you. "Guess who's working
overtime."

And no, you don't answer. If there's anything you could piece together from what little there is
about witches is that you shouldn't fuck with one. Besides, by the looks of her, this one
doesn't seem willing to take that much more shit.

A waitress just walks by, kneels, and leaves one dish at each side. She bows before leaving,
and you watch... it was a Roomba. The hair, the head-thing, the size... identical. In the name
of fuck.

"You have two choices," the obviously-a-witch states, "you keep up with Doodles or start
calling me instead. Doodles will reset the timeline to an earlier point. I won't. I will fix shit
that makes no sense right on the spot. It may look weird. It may seem like a miracle. But it
will work."

You look for the door. There is no door. No entrance. No exit; the whole place is in sight.

>>1259425
"Trash's most pitiful cries at the sight of Doodle's presence seems to pretty clearly indicate she'd prefer if we worked directly with you instead. Problem is, unless ATTR has randomly variable attraction strength, or Trash only turned on her dEKE after tossing the stuff, she'd have almost thrown her self along with it. Likewise, Legs should have been just as pulled to the ship to the ships EKE as Trash was pulled towards Legs, if not much more so, assuming the attraction of the ATTR is proportional to the size and strength of the EKE field. Likewise I wouldn't ahve needed to catch it, Leg's dEKE would have pulled it right to him like a homing missile.

As for nicknames... You learn them via context and practice. Like a child learning new words from a picture book: This is Beans. See Beans cry. Cry Beans, Cry!"

>>1259702

Finally, you look at her; the witch is smoking. "Trash's most pitiful cries at the sight of
Doodle's presence seem to pretty clearly indicate she'd prefer if we worked directly with
you instead."

You words hang in the air as the witch breathes from the cigarette as if time was just a
measure. You look at your dish as she smokes, it decorated with oats and small cereal bars
carefully arranged to look like Doodle's face. It doesn't seem appetizing, but you don't fail to
notice the cup of mochaccino right at the left.

Then she giggles. And coughs. "No shit. Suhuru had /the/ ride of her life with Doodles, I
think it were seven the times she had to witness a reset. Eight. Eight, yes. She knows
how much those reset suck. You see, you go back in time, all cool- but you already know
what's going to happen next. Sounds cool, right? It isn't." She coughs, miserably. "It isn't
at bear-fucking all." And you barely heard that. "Because no matter how many times I reset the
timeline Doodles will keep and keep on fucking up. And there was no avoiding that. No arguing.
No fucking nothing. Let me put it this way... Nelly. Yeah, Nelly. Unless someone is there to
threaten Doodles to do his job right, he won't
worry about doing it right. And who the fuck
threatens a Witch?" She laughs, and it sounds too rough. "You? I'd beat the shit out of you
with your own arms, and I'm not even Doodles."

You nod, and nod, and nod; clearly, this witch is overworked. "Problem is unless ATTR has
randomly variable attraction strength or Trash only turned on her dEKE after tossing the stuff,
she's have almost thrown herself along with it. Likewise, Legs should have been just as pulled
to the ship's EKE as Trash was pulled towards Legs, if not much more so, assuming the
attraction of the ATTR-"

"It's ATRT. As in ATRacTor. People get it wrong all the time because a manufacturing company
fucked up a label once."

You smile sharply and nod, your eyes closed. "...assuming the attraction of the ATRT is
proportional to the size and strength of the EKE field. Likewise, I wouldn't have needed to catch
it. Leg's dEKE would have pulled it right to him like a homing missile."

The witch gently blows smoke in your face. She's smiling, even if her eyes are not. "Trash's
dEKE should have been on or she would have been breathing poison then. So you are right.
None of the ship's EKE fields were on, though.The ATRT stuff did aim for the guy, it
just that you got it first, the bullshit there was that the guy wasn't being absorbed into the
ATRT when you were holding it. When you stuck it into him and threw him, the ATRT was
free to pull the guy in all force and thus make him spin like a Beyblade. If you expected a
slow fall, then you forgot about the god-damned gravity, I don't know why you threw him from
the ship like that. Regardless we can agree on something." The witch burns the cigarette into
her robe, and it sets it on fire. "This is fucked up."

(ONTCNOCNTONCOTNC

The witch is clearly setting herself on fire, but that's a witch there; not your place to tell her
jack-shit.

"As for nicknames..." You subbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbtly take the sleeves of your kimono from the table, just in
case, "You learn them via context and practice. Like a child learning new words from a picture
book: This is Beans. See Beans cry. Cry Beans, Cry!"

She visibly smiles hard to herself at this, and even though the flames you can still tell she's a
bit red.

"Poor thing... so that's how they call her now. Beans. Fits better than Trash, in my opinion. I
was talking about tripcodes anyway, but whatever. What should have happened? If you
just throw the guy like that he's going to break his dEKE against the ship unless I'm missing
something. Cause if we fuck this up, and Doodle notices, I'm gonna have to rewind the
whole damn thing again but I swear I'll beat you up before that."

>>1260133
Mocaccino's are best drunk warm after all. Take a sip an think for a bit here... One more...

"Motherfucker."

"That was what she meant, for being so smart I'm fucking retarded you know that? Of course you fucking do if I wasn't you wouldn't be here. Ok, smallest change possible that fixes this: I don't let got of the bag after sticking him to it. The bag acts like the string to my Hat and Legs Yo-Yo right? I can feel the pull it's exerting on him that way, and get a feel for just how hard I'll have to throw him to get him just barely out of return range of my ATRT. Outside of correcting for wind drift I was tossing him pretty gently. Sounds good?"

Closing your eyes, you get the glorious concoction (another triumph for science) to your
lips, and drink it while moving your head from side to side very slightly. After completely
assimilating the entirety of its contents into your mechanism, you lift your chin towards the witch
still with your eyes closed, the cup still lingering right under your mouth.

"Motherfucker." Then you open your eyes.

You are rewarded with the sight of a silent witch, the cigarette quietly embracing its
destiny as it consumes into her mouth. Her eyes aren't creepy, but they make you feel like
you just burned her drawing folder.

And since she's silent, you speak. "That was what she meant, for being so smart I'm fucking
retarded you know that?"

"I didn't," she answers.

"Of course you fucking do if I wasn't you wouldn't be here. Ok, smallest change possible
that fixes this; I don't let go of the bag after sticking him to it. The bag acts like the string to
my Hat and Legs Yo-Yo, right?"

"ATRT attraction is that strong, so yes." This time she blows smoke elsewhere, it just so
happens that one of the Roombas was passing by. "Now that I think better about it, Suhuru
could have easily thrown that bag at you despite the ATRT's attraction- she's one strong
hornfucker after all."

You get back on track. "I can feel the pull it's exerting on him that way, and get a feel for just
how hard I'll have to throw him to get him just barely out of return range of my ATRT."

"I'm dead certain that's what she wanted. Good for you Nelly, that means you aren't fucking
retarded." Her voice is so monotone, it reminds you a bit of Preah's.. but nah, that's too
extreme.

"Outside of correcting for wind drift I was tossing him pretty gently," you recall. "Sounds
good?"

"Makes sense, and that's what matters." This time, her words were strong and dragged. "As
long as it sounds good enough, even if it actually doesn't make any fucking sense at all,
it's all that matters. As long as Doodle doesn't catch up and we have to reset the fucking
timeline every ten minutes or so I'll be your bitch." You realize the fire around her is starting
to spread across the chair, and onto the chair behind her. Of course, nobody gives a fuck.
"Anything else or do I bye bye?"

>>1261316
"As I'm sure this will happen again, shall I just keep calling you Physics then? Beyond that, I think things are settled here. Thanks for the drink by the way. And another fun idea."

"As I'm sure this will happen again, shall I just keep calling you Physics then?"

"Call me whatever the fuck you want." The Witch drinks from her own cup and you spot its
insides; she's drinking water, and the fire shrinks as she does.

"Beyond that, I think things are settled here." You wonder how would the fire look in your
crimson eyes. It gets you giddy. "Thanks for the drink by the way. And another fun idea."

Still drinking, Physics just waves at you.

(C-C-C-cPEOANOENARA-

>>1256761

It takes some effort to split Legs from the bag, and you realize that even though the dEKE is
attracted to the ATRT the man's limbs retain his posture. He's not bending; the whole body is
being magnetized as is. Yet you place him next to the ramp, stand, and gently push him
towards its fall while keeping yellow bag very over your head.

"Young lady, are you sure this is proper?" Hat asks the moment its orange googles face you as Legs rolls towards the hole.

"Yup." And down it goes. As you watch him fall you quickly get the bag near him to ease his
speed... and you do it so well, it's coming back for you. "Fuck." The whole man sticks to the
bag.

T: Keep trying, that's how you do it! I'll catch him, don't worry about it!

"Perhaps a bit more 'rage' would be in order," the hat says. Well, it's a fancy way to say it.
This time you simply throw the man out of the ship and wait for the drag to be felt- then get the
bag over your head, watch as Legs stops mid air, then slowly get it near and near as it starts
falling again. By the time it reaches Trash's arms, half your body is outside the ship. Both
your feet are sunk into the ship's floor.

T: Toasty, the Nielly earned that mochaccino.

R: Oh, did she? Guess one more can't hurt, then!

T: Don't spoil her or she'll grow lazy!

"That's none of your damn bussiness!" you yell at the templar from the ship, a thunder doing
you chorus.

T: Anyway, what do you want to do now?

V: Get me in there! I have a dEKE!

T: Me too, you know.

V: You already did something, let me have some fun!

T: Up to Toasty!

R: Hmm, it's not a bad idea!

V: That's it I'm going in!

>>1261584
Well let's go put out that fire and see what sort of damage we're looking at here. "Hey Blankey, you know sneaky shit right? Once you've landed this thing would you mind checking for traps? That seems like something you'd want a domain expert for."

>>1261669

You finally bury your fingers into the roof of the Wings after spider-faking all the way through
the ramp. Atma's bag is right there over the wheel you sank into the roof as you arrived.
She must have used the rope in order to aim it. The rope both you (and Preah) forgot to remove
before having the Friend get under the Wings... thankfully, it is quite long.

You walk up to it, yet as you attempt to grab the bag your hands can't move any closer; you
grab the EKE field surrounding it instead. It reminds you that neither Roomba or you can
see EKE fields yet.

You spider-fake all the way into the ship, again. Seems Vaal beat you to it, the blonde casually
stretching her body against the comfy-looking bed.

As she does, you undo the EKE field that surrounds the back by pressing the tiny
generator, mostly because the ATRT bag stuck to it. "Hey Blankey, you know sneaky shit
right?" This barely makes her neck twist towards you, but nothing else. "Once you've
landed this thing, would you mind checking for traps? That seems like something you'd want a
domain expert for."

The Mother of Blondes gives you a confused little look. "You mean, you didn't do that
already?" She stands, stretches, and yawns wildly- fucking all day must be rough. Then Vaal
takes a lazy look around, then another and another, then her head is turning and turning as
if someone was screwing her head into the chest. "Nope, nope, nothing! This is perfectly
safe!" She strikes a pose as she winks at you. There was no need to do that. "Oh, would you
mind staying? Your weight is making this thing stable."

You pop the fire extinguisher and the hand riveter from the hand, then strike a pose of your
own. By the looks on her face, she seems confused about whether you are being playful or
actually mocking her. "I'll put out that fire, see from which hell all this smoke is coming from."
In the end, Atma's first aid kit was pointless.

Vaal nods, smiling. "Ok! I'll stay here being a magnet, be careful about the sudden ups and
downs.

You /do/ weight 350lb of pure Terminator, but if you actually are stabilizing the ship just by
being here, then what would happen if you move to one end? Oh well, Blakey's a Manager.
She'll deal.

As you dent the ship's belly for the third or fourth time in a row, the Friend emerges at your
side. You stop to watch as it goes "down" towards the sky, then keep on denting the steel
as it stops next to the Wings. You follow the smoke towards the bottom of the cockpit, rain
still rushing upwards towards the sea from every side, and you are finally there getting
smoke blown in your face.

Then the ship starts moving as a whole, slowly getting swallowed by the Friend's lower hangar.

>>1263251
Well, let's put that fire out then and see just how fucked everything is. Hopefully we'll land this thing soon enough and I'll be able to make the rest of the bits I'll need.