Kawaii Rebirth

Game Master BastianQuinn

Not. I kinda expect more than one of you to pick Malice. There is also nothing wrong with picking an Erohin as an ally. Just as long as we understand that it's not going to change how... Effective? They are as enemies or allies. Their hands will be tied in some fashion.

This is another way you can determine the shape of your story.

Don't be afraid to ask questions like "what does it mean if I pick ____?"

Purrfection is totes my enemy. For Posterity purrposes. And because of the way I say her name. Which is not my fault.

What happens if I choose Conquest as my buddy? What if I choose Brilliance?

What happens if I choose a random normie?

I'm honestly looking at Suzu as my buddy, at the moment, so... what happens there?

The mechanical advantage of a friend is mostly fictional positioning. They allow us to assume you have an 'in' somewhere, like you know the security guy in a skyscraper, so it's no trouble getting in or out. You might invoke them to alter your position or effect in a roll, especially on engagement rolls.

Conquest seems to have a soft spot for yokai, and expansive facilities for their care and maintenance. Plus, he can naturally overpower any single Erohin. They would be a natural fit for our team's enigmatic catgirl.

Brilliance has been looking out for Chessa so far, but it sounds like that's been getting harder recently. As a friend they would continue to stick their neck out, and might be called on to help get someone out of re-education.

The important thing to consider with making up someone not introduced here would be to outline their position so we understand, in vague terms, what they have to offer.

Suzu opens you up to a network of disgruntled yokai who are less than appreciative of the Erohin's influences. Suzu herself is very old, and remembers stuff about the exiles and has a close relationship with Solomon/Providence.

Still here. Will try to post this weekend because work is likely to last past four a.m. tonight. Unfortunately, this weekend is when I and other friends will be building a wheelchair ramp for a friend of ours, so it may not be until Sunday.

I currently have Benji/Mercy down for my friend/enemy pairing, but I find I'm not too informed of all the ramifications.
There are things to be defined with Benji, and I don't know Mercy too well.

Until you find a use for them, you can change your friend, and as long as you have an enemy, you can change yours anytime during the first few missions.

Since they haven't been on screen, what are your thoughts about them as characters?

Mercy is Cygnus' Erohin, so you might talk to them about it.

More later, traveling with low battery.

Mercy is Cygnus' Erohin, so you might talk to them about it.

Stupid question, are they also Astre's Erohin?

that's temerity

Hmm... Is it alright to use Malice as an enemy if its really more on Raven's part? After all, I can't really think that Malice would consider Raven even a bother considering his distance and aversion to most confrontation. Raven, however, certainly dislikes her.

Cygnus and Astre each have an Erohin, but Cygnus and Mercy are not part of the committee.

Hmm... Is it alright to use Malice as an enemy if its really more on Raven's part? After all, I can't really think that Malice would consider Raven even a bother considering his distance and aversion to most confrontation. Raven, however, certainly dislikes her.

I don't think Malice even cares about Maturity. Can they be an enemy if they're the object of the verb that harms you? Unless Maturity is a friend, and you're starcrossed lovers, I think Maturity is an unknowing enemy. That gives you two clocks to work on: get them to stop hurting me, and get them to love me.

As for Benji, he's probably some kind of social worker. I don't have any specific plans for him. What's more, I'm not sure he would have much reason to be Junpei's friend. I guess, talk me through your ideas on what he's been doing the past ten years, and what Junpei has been doing to help him cope.

Okay, I intended to do this Friday night to help me keep it straight but my post disappeared. Serves me right for trying to post something this complicated from my phone.
Now that I'm doing it again, I am recalling that it lead to some questions I had for other players. Unfortunately, just because I now recall I had questions, doesn't mean I remember the questions I meant to ask...

PC / Erohin

Astre / Temerity
Chessa / Brilliance
Cygnus / Mercy
Junpei / Conquest
Raven / Maturity?
Senshiro / Malice
Tracy / Perfection

Oh! I do recall one question, more for BastianQuin than another Player. How...
enlightened/evolved/blessed/whatever is the average human in Neo Jimazan? I mean, from a certain angle, this could just be a supernatural variation on Paranoia without the Slapstick.
Part of why I'm asking is that I'm contemplating Tracy's enemy being a former bf who has now transcended the base need for that kind of relationship (Or at least wants to think he is...) & the fact that he keeps running into her is just a reminder he doesn't need...
Yes, I'm planning on him being a disciple of Mercy, probably high enough that Mercy actually listens to him on occasion.

The other option I am contemplating is the Ghost of Tomoe, Tracy's friend who committed suicide & inadvertently became the catalyst for the present situation. For that matter, are there Ghosts in Neo Jimazan & what would a ghost who was also kharmically trapped by the fact that her death was the presaging event for the possible end of the world be capable of? As a Friend or as an Enemy?

Completely unrelated to anything else, any good thoughts you want to send my way would be much appreciated right now. I'm hoping to transfer to a new position that would both mean I was only working 40 hrs. a week & also mean I was able to be home weekday evenings to be more of a presence for my son. He isn't doing as well in school as he has in the past & I'm pretty sure at least part of it is that he's getting pretty 'latch-key'.

There are folks like Takara who would succeed no matter who was in charge, and there are those who have embraced this world specifically. Here in Neo Jimazan, humans are either being reformed by yokai, or they are trusted second-class citizens who fill important roles in the city's infrastructure, like how Takara teaches new yokai.

The Erohin teach that their side of the Veil was our 'spirit' plane. There are phantoms, which are under-developed yokai, and therefore a part of our world, and ghosts, which are under-developed Erohin, and therefore a part of theirs. Humans who do not dabble in magic produce no such shade, but it's said certain talented folks can still communicate with them.

Best of luck on that new position. I know how much that can suck.

hey, before I do the Friend/Enemy thing (which I swear, I didn't forget) do we have a naming convention in place? I noticed a lot of the names (Erohin aside) have a similar feel to them that Cygnus/Astre don't.

How so?

I'm thinking that I eitehr want Brilliance or Suzu as Chessa's friend. What does everyone else think about those two options?

You would either be sharing a friend with Ao, or be friends with his enemy. I know which I think is more interesting...

I hadn't seen that Ao had chosen anything, so yeah, the choice is significantly more clear to be friends with Brilliance. I like breaking through all of the clearly drawn lines. :P

Also, my post isn't really for 'transcendencing' so much as the idea that I can wear the mask -without- being in super-mode. I didn't misread that as an idea by watching the stream, right?

Nekomata (and most popular modern japanese-styled yokai) can take human form. I think Corvus had a mundane version of the costume to use as a disguise. I also was playing with the idea that you'd all be in transcendent appearance inside the hideout. Dunno what's better.

I like the way Yuki Yuna is a Hero worked it (I haven't seen the whole thing!), where there was a 'released' form and then a 'fully released' one in the form of Mankai. (If you're more familiar with bleach, it'd be shikai and bankai, essentially.)

I'd always envisioned Chessa as wearing a human guise while working with the team, because if there's a little cat running around that doesn't really leave much to the imagination. :P

It's a minor liberty I took, but one I can easily edit out. :)

There does need to be some way for Chessa to cooperate with the team without blowing their kitty cover.

So, I'm going to go with Yihadhe for friend, Cygnus' childhood frined, currently working as a librarian in Neo Jimazan's largest library. If you want more details, ask, not sure how much blank you want to work with.

for enemy: is Nobility (just throwing out an Erohin) who think Astre should never have been admitted into the city

What are the most important characteristics of the Erohin who wants to keep Astre out? That they are outside the committee? That they hold a prideful position? How do they differ from, or relate to the Erohin already listed?

okay, here's what I'm thinking. the other name I had in my head for this Erohin was Authority. they think that letting the wastrels of the darkness in will undermine the "perfect unity" of Neo-Jimazan.

in terms of this whole "Child-god" thing, they are a mixture of "Kid with all the cool toys" and "Schoolyard bully". They are on the powerful end of the Erohin Spectrum, they know it, and they play favorites Hard

Also, Junpei, we established earlier that in this loop, You maneuvered Astre away from finding the Matagama, hoping this would be the thing that saves him, and everyone else. Can I ask how you did it for this scene?

Veterans, who do we think fits that bill? Juno? Solomon? Should it be someone new?

I don't recognize Solomon. Honestly, it still fits for Perfection to me. :P

Astre? Is it important that they be an Erohin outside the committee?

No,come to that. Perfection fits the bill quite nicely now I think of it.

Everybody hates princess bubblegum, and it isn't even her fault. :P

The things she's hated for are pretty legitimate, but someone brought her personified fears to life, and someone else murdered them, so... That's not to say treating her daughter like a purse dog was good parenting, but she was raised by a fallen angel / fairy godmother and used all her magic to try to prove she was a good mother.

For those deep in the lore, this does mean Aratani Shirakawa died during the Cataclysm. You don't 'this isn't even my final form' and limp away from the fight.

Is there a trope for that? Because I kinda need to know if there's a trope for that. :P

The second paragraph of the above is all one wing angel. The first is all Season one / season zero plot twists.

I forgot to remind Tracy that they don't get a (working) magatama. They do, however, find their way into the Hideout. Maybe their intro shows how?

Junpei, did you mean your enemy to be Mercy or Malice? Just double-checking because I know I get names confused when they start with the same letter.

I do like the idea that the magic beads are different colors.

Mercy. Definitely Mercy. Mainly decided upon from when they showed up in a spoiler with Tracy.
...though I suspect that may have actually been Malice, going by the naming scheme used afterward and the statement just made. That, or it's Mercy has just been referred to as Malice from there.
Given that the ooc text says that they're an embodiment of ill intent and that there's meant to be some irony because of that, I really don't know what to think, here.
Whichever one of those two was present was the one to take dibs have their need seen to.

Also...I may have forgotten how I was planning to write my intro.

Ah, I see, it was me who had the problem with same-letter names. Yes, the vitriol came from Malice. That's my bad.

Mercy isn't part of the committee.

For the intro aesthetic, it should exemplify your mundane self's MO, which is about having been down this road before, but I don't know if you want the first use of the Magatama to be save state 0. If not, maybe in past iterations, you came in late, getting a bead from Chessa, but now you swipe Aster's bead.

Duly noted. Changing to Malice, disrespecter of doors.
I mean, really, it's a perfectly natural pick for him.

I don't recognize Solomon.

Just noticed that one.

EDIT: I forgot to say.
I believe I'm going with a run 0.X sort of thing right now. Would just be run 0, but I saw something in one of my updates and decided to go with that as the logical followthrough. Until he's got his magatama, it's a sort of fragmentary thing, with some but not all of the info of his future runs.

Solomon was Paresh's magical girl name, and because Paresh died, he became part of Solomon during the cataclysm. I don't remember if I gave them an Erohin name...

It's also worth mentioning that an ancient relationship between Suzu and Solomon was frequently hinted at in season 1.

May or may not come up in this story.

...I just realised something.
What does Chessa go by when she's drawing on the magatama to change her appearance?

EDIT: Alright, there we go. That's a thing until I notice something that doesn't feel right.
If I somehow didn't make it clear, the idea was that before, Astre managed to stumble onto the one of the magatamas that Chessa had hidden. Instead, Junpei's used his limited memory to pre-empt that, not fully understanding why yet.

While some of the specifics of magatama usage haven't been nailed down yet, we've, at the least, already seen Chessa use one to change her appearance.
I'd actually like to be able to do that myself, if nobody has an issue. Junpei before had something of a twinned sense of identity, mainly revolving around his gender, and I'd like to play with that again.

For the record, Astre identifies as male. seemed to be some confusion about that in your post.

How so? I don't think I made any particular conflicting reference to Astre's gender.

If it's about the talk of a blonde woman, I'm on about Chessa.

Also, having a gender identity? Shame on you!

Oh, okay. Sorry

Apologies, but I've been having a much larger workload lately, and will have to drop out of this game. Thanks for the opportunity, and I hope to run into you all on the boards again!

...I just realised something.

What does Chessa go by when she's drawing on the magatama to change her appearance?

EDIT: Alright, there we go. That's a thing until I notice something that doesn't feel right.
If I somehow didn't make it clear, the idea was that before, Astre managed to stumble onto the one of the magatamas that Chessa had hidden. Instead, Junpei's used his limited memory to pre-empt that, not fully understanding why yet.

While some of the specifics of magatama usage haven't been nailed down yet, we've, at the least, already seen Chessa use one to change her appearance.
I'd actually like to be able to do that myself, if nobody has an issue. Junpei before had something of a twinned sense of identity, mainly revolving around his gender, and I'd like to play with that again.

I can see disguises being important enough to come standard. So, mundane, oppressed self; then idealized, disguised self; and finally transcendent, true self. All totally possible.

Apologies, but I've been having a much larger workload lately, and will have to drop out of this game. Thanks for the opportunity, and I hope to run into you all on the boards again!

Much respect to you for letting us know. We'll certainly miss out on the sordid love lives of Erohin without you. If Something clears up, and you want back in, just let me know.

Chessa is the name that chose her! So until someone else comes up with a suitable name for totally-not-Chessa, she'll likely go by the name 'Nobody' with a grin. :)

You know, I got it into my head that it had been said magatama let you literally poof over from wherever you are, for some reason. Looking it over, though...

After some experimentation, you each find that these trinkets allow you access to a place outside of this world where the youkai cannot find you.

Yeah...doesn't actually say that specifically...don't know where I got the vanishing in midair thing from.

Chessa is the name that chose her! So until someone else comes up with a suitable name for totally-not-Chessa, she'll likely go by the name 'Nobody' with a grin. :)

I kind of love this.

The latter part is interesting given Chessa's presence though, is it not?

What? Chessa's not in the Hideout. There's Nobody in the Hideout aside from you humans.

Hey all. Sorry I haven't posted for about a week. The good news is that I did get the position I was hoping for, which means I will have noticably more time available.
I will make a game post when I get home tonight.

I am legally obligated to acknowledge puns as I notice them. PUN!

:)

So good to hear! Having moved up through three jobs in three years, I know how much a relief that can be.

Take your time getting reoriented, and don't be affraid to ask questions. ^.~