Personification Life IC IX - [Semi Open]

[The Carlisle]

Remmy jumped at the shrill whistle and the yelling of Khan. "Yes sir!" she said instinctively. Remmy turned to Trice, as ordered by Khan. "Chaos Restaurant? Sounds good. Didn't eat anything since I got up. Was gonna crash Kale's fridge before you rang the bell," she said.

[Erucia]

In response, Khan stared at Eru just long enough for him to feel uncomfortable, before turning away his attention. "Anyway, food. I have some US dollars on me, as well as Indian rupees. Where will we eat? The Oregonian over here may have to understand what sales tax is, of course, so someone may have to pull him aside to explain that." he snarked, a dig at Eru. His long stay in America had acquainted him with the Oregonian accent - and yes, there was definitely one.

Initially, Temmo flushed with embarrassment at the official Khan Death-stare, but the remark at his own expense made his expression disperse into a frown. "Well, I'm glad that you're concerned with being a wonderful human being, Night. Sheesh, you're being...well, sour," he honestly didn't quite want the feeling of being picked on, but he wasn't really quite in the mood for just letting it pass. Great argument, you idiot. Can't you come up with anything better than "sour"?

[Swith Witherward]

"Thank you Khan," she called across the room to him. It was just like herding cats. Things would have been much easier if she could just godmod the group via her keyboard.

"Follow me, James. Oh, and if GT turns up, you've got to chat with him. He's going through too much stress at AIT."

Trice took advantage of Temmo's outstretched hand, using it for balance as she hopped off the little table. "Good to meet you too, finally. Night's always this crazy. He's bad cop to my good cop. Unless I'm being a flaming idiot and posting my usual bowl of tripe in the form of suggestions to the population at large."

She didn't go into detail on this one. Instead, she slipped on Swith's jacket and refrained from putting her hands into the pockets. There were weird quirks to everything about her characters and, although she loved running Charumati, she realized that many aspects about the creature could in fact harm her. It was an uncomfortable thought which only doubled when she considered how nasty Ren was in his own character designs. NVE had odd guns. Carly had weed monsters. Klaus had cancer-causing radioactive material sitting around the apartment. It was an unsettling situation from which she hoped to distance herself.

"Let's go!" This was directed to the others standing around her. Trice made her way through the group and into the cool night air.

[Tiltjuice]

This is getting dull. Enough talk.

Tilt wandered back to the stairwell, closing the door quietly behind himself, and walked up back through to Dora's apartment. Fortune of fortunes, he'd had the foresight to place it at one end of the building, so it had a place to open to the outside. Unlatching the security lock on the sliding door, he pushed it open and stepped out onto the balcony. The cooler air made him shiver for a moment, but he focused and continued on.

Swinging a leg over the railing, he perched for a moment, then brought the other leg over as well and hopped to the ground.

"Now which way is Chaos...?" He swung his index finger in an odd vaguely oval shape that Picasso might have drawn if drunk, approximating all four cardinal directions. Deciding arbitrarily to head to the right, he began strolling off, hands in his pockets, before the group could leave the building.

[Monfrox]

"Yo, what's going on man." Mon replied to PXM. He was still trying to decode and decipher who everyone was. It was confusing as all hell, for sure. His mind remembered something. "Hey uh...Swith, Cer, you guys. Go on ahead. I think there may be something I want to check up on before I go, okay? Don't wait up for me. Shouldn't be too long." He said, giving a two-fingered salute that he picked up on from a Ranger named Ulman from the game Metro 2033.

[Giovenith]

Well, no one had thus stabbed her yet. The worse that had happened was an older male with a loud voice (Serina didn't feel very intimidated; she'd become rather desensitized to loudness 'fear' a long time ago), and what seemed like a small chide from someone who resembled the few pictures of Swith she had seen. All else seemed to be engaged in very friendly conversation, all addressing each other by the user names of those in PL. If this was a cult, it wasn't going to be the type that used violence, at least not early on. Perhaps, maybe, it was not a club? But... rather... maybe... just maybe...

She was on Scare Tactics?

Yes, that had to be it!

Okay, fine, Serina could play along with Scare Tactics. Or whatever similar show this must have been. Pretty twisted, maybe a punishment from her mom for being so computer-addicted? Anyway, Miss "Swith" was calling everyone along to "Chaos", and frankly she did not want to be alone here, and decided that she would follow the group to the imaginary restaurant. For now.

[Nightkill the Emperor]

In response, Khan stared at Eru just long enough for him to feel uncomfortable, before turning away his attention. "Anyway, food. I have some US dollars on me, as well as Indian rupees. Where will we eat? The Oregonian over here may have to understand what sales tax is, of course, so someone may have to pull him aside to explain that." he snarked, a dig at Eru. His long stay in America had acquainted him with the Oregonian accent - and yes, there was definitely one.

Initially, Temmo flushed with embarrassment at the official Khan Death-stare, but the remark at his own expense made his expression disperse into a frown. "Well, I'm glad that you're concerned with being a wonderful human being, Night. Sheesh, you're being...well, sour," he honestly didn't quite want the feeling of being picked on, but he wasn't really quite in the mood for just letting it pass. Great argument, you idiot. Can't you come up with anything better than "sour"?

"I'm being Asian." Khan replied, again instinctively reaching for his phone and being annoyed at the discovery it wasn't there. He followed after Trice, walking into the night. Ah, so it was night, not early morning? Alright then.

[Erucia]

"I'm being Asian." Khan replied, again instinctively reaching for his phone and being annoyed at the discovery it wasn't there. He followed after Trice, walking into the night. Ah, so it was night, not early morning? Alright then.

Trice's friendliness calmed him down somewhat, and he even slipped a chuckle at the joke that she offered. Temmo gave a kind smile over to Swith before turning back over to Night.The shrug that he offered was perhaps calming in its own right, in a strange, disgruntled fashion.

"Well, must be because I didn't get the bad side of being Asian from my grammy," he offered as a response to the Indian before following along with Trice.

[ApertureScienceInc]

"Yo, what's going on man." Mon replied to PXM. He was still trying to decode and decipher who everyone was. It was confusing as all hell, for sure. His mind remembered something. "Hey uh...Swith, Cer, you guys. Go on ahead. I think there may be something I want to check up on before I go, okay? Don't wait up for me. Shouldn't be too long." He said, giving a two-fingered salute that he picked up on from a Ranger named Ulman from the game Metro 2033.

"You know, I think I'm going insane, but then I remember I made that part of me up." PXM replied before turning his attention to Serina, he recognized her from the youtube videos. "I swear it's not my fault, it was the one-armed man." He joked with a straight face as he walked over to her. When he was nervous he tended to stick to his made up stories, nobody could mess with you if they did not even know you. Despite this, there was an air of friendliness and a trustworthy face.

[Cerillium]

Jacob jumped slightly, somehow not having noticed that someone had approached him until Ren spoke up. While generally watching as much as he could, he generally missed things that he wasn't looking at directly. "O-oh. Yeah. I'm good. Just a bit weirded out by all of this. Plus, I've never met ya'll until now in person. Its one thing to speak over a computer, another to meet in person, after all." He chuckled and gave a slightly weak smile, glancing over towards the Japanese man who he was assuming was Cerillium for obvious reasons. He glanced around again and then sighed, wondering how long they would be here. He had already noticed that his phone was missing, thus cutting off any access to a certain someone that didn't seem to also be here. He frowned a bit at that, but focused back on Cer.

"By the way, you can call me Jacob or Jake if you want. Its my real name after all. Also common enough to give out without too much worry." His voice was slightly deep, with a very faint plains accent, but otherwise clear and crisp English, making him easy to understand. That is, if it wasn't for the fast clip he generally spoke at, speeding through sentences without breaths or with very few pauses. "Heh, I get nervous around relatively new people. Hell, I've gotten nervous around people I know are relatives yet I haven't spoken to or don't remember well. Should get past this after a bit though, probably."

Ren's eyes sought out Trice. What did NA just say? So fast! The Asian replayed the words in his mind and hoped he was at least addressing things correctly.

"Hai, nice to meet you Jake," he politely nodded his head and replied in his usual slow rumble. "This is overwhelming. But, soon, get accustomed to."

I sound like a fuckiong moron, Ren chastised himself. People longed for their phones or other devices. Ren was missing his most prized possession: his Japanese/English dictionary. The faded little paperback was still on his desk back home. Where the hell was Tilt? There was an off chance that his fellow Asian might understand what he was trying to convey and perhaps insert the proper words in. And there goes Swith, right out the front door. Sonofabitch.

"Come, Jake. We follow them; we eat. Things will work out." Ren smiled and beckoned for him to follow the rest.

[Monfrox]

"Yo, what's going on man." Mon replied to PXM. He was still trying to decode and decipher who everyone was. It was confusing as all hell, for sure. His mind remembered something. "Hey uh...Swith, Cer, you guys. Go on ahead. I think there may be something I want to check up on before I go, okay? Don't wait up for me. Shouldn't be too long." He said, giving a two-fingered salute that he picked up on from a Ranger named Ulman from the game Metro 2033.

"You know, I think I'm going insane, but then I remember I made that part of me up." PXM replied before turning his attention to Serina, he recognized her from the youtube videos. "I swear it's not my fault, it was the one-armed man." He joked with a straight face as he walked over to her. When he was nervous he tended to stick to his made up stories, nobody could mess with you if they did not even know you. Despite this, there was an air of friendliness and a trustworthy face.

"Hey, careful there man, she may get defensive." Mon warned as he stepped halfway between the rest of the group and Serina. He kinda figured it was Giov, but he always doubted himself. That was one of the things he had plenty of: Self-doubt. But it tended to not get in the way too much.

[Fvaarniimar]

Well, no one had thus stabbed her yet. The worse that had happened was an older male with a loud voice (Serina didn't feel very intimidated; she'd become rather desensitized to loudness 'fear' a long time ago), and what seemed like a small chide from someone who resembled the few pictures of Swith she had seen. All else seemed to be engaged in very friendly conversation, all addressing each other by the user names of those in PL. If this was a cult, it wasn't going to be the type that used violence, at least not early on. Perhaps, maybe, it was not a club? But... rather... maybe... just maybe...

She was on Scare Tactics?

Yes, that had to be it!

Okay, fine, Serina could play along with Scare Tactics. Or whatever similar show this must have been. Pretty twisted, maybe a punishment from her mom for being so computer-addicted? Anyway, Miss "Swith" was calling everyone along to "Chaos", and frankly she did not want to be alone here, and decided that she would follow the group to the imaginary restaurant. For now.

The grayish eyes of Fvaar, who had been glancing around in search of someone around her age and hence slightly less intimidating, landed on a Hispanic-looking girl, whom she approached. "Erm, hi. As I kinda mentioned, I'm the person who goes by Fvaar? This is pretty incredible, right? So, um, who are you? I mean, what's your username? On Nationstates, that is?" While waiting for an answer, the girl who would have been nondescript in appearance had she not been using a quilt as a skirt messed with her hair, first twirling it a bit and then tying and untying knots.

[Swith Witherward]

Well, no one had thus stabbed her yet. The worse that had happened was an older male with a loud voice (Serina didn't feel very intimidated; she'd become rather desensitized to loudness 'fear' a long time ago), and what seemed like a small chide from someone who resembled the few pictures of Swith she had seen. All else seemed to be engaged in very friendly conversation, all addressing each other by the user names of those in PL. If this was a cult, it wasn't going to be the type that used violence, at least not early on. Perhaps, maybe, it was not a club? But... rather... maybe... just maybe...

She was on Scare Tactics?

Yes, that had to be it!

Okay, fine, Serina could play along with Scare Tactics. Or whatever similar show this must have been. Pretty twisted, maybe a punishment from her mom for being so computer-addicted? Anyway, Miss "Swith" was calling everyone along to "Chaos", and frankly she did not want to be alone here, and decided that she would follow the group to the imaginary restaurant. For now.

Trice slowed her steps until Serina and Fvaar had nearly caught up with her. It was an odd feeling to be walking and talking with people she thought she'd never have the occasion to meet in real life. Sure, people had laughed at joining in on NS meetups but somehow this was much better. This was their own world, a home away from home for so many of them. Best Westerns and Red Roof Inns couldn't compare.

"I'm glad you brought the Ponies in to the game, Gio" she said by way of small talk. "At first, I really was nervous about it. I thought they'd be overly cute. Your character is pretty damn grim. I love reading his posts. Oh, and hello Fvaar. I'm Swith, but you can call me Trice." She pronounced her name TREE-chey.

Meanwhile, Bielefeld was teeming with life. Cars breezed past them and wound through the streets leading to the residential areas. Passengers boarded the Market Street Trolly in anticipation of a night spent strolling and window shopping on Main. The rumble of the subway could be heard echoing up from the nearby station entrance. These were all the normal occupants found in town, humble NPCs seldom seen because few players ever took the time to notice their surroundings as they traveled between destinations.

They passed char!Bran's workshop, which was shuttered tight for the night, and eventually found themselves entering the main section of Market. It was a vibrant place filled with delicious smells drifting in the early spring air.

[New Aksarben]

Jacob jumped slightly, somehow not having noticed that someone had approached him until Ren spoke up. While generally watching as much as he could, he generally missed things that he wasn't looking at directly. "O-oh. Yeah. I'm good. Just a bit weirded out by all of this. Plus, I've never met ya'll until now in person. Its one thing to speak over a computer, another to meet in person, after all." He chuckled and gave a slightly weak smile, glancing over towards the Japanese man who he was assuming was Cerillium for obvious reasons. He glanced around again and then sighed, wondering how long they would be here. He had already noticed that his phone was missing, thus cutting off any access to a certain someone that didn't seem to also be here. He frowned a bit at that, but focused back on Cer.

"By the way, you can call me Jacob or Jake if you want. Its my real name after all. Also common enough to give out without too much worry." His voice was slightly deep, with a very faint plains accent, but otherwise clear and crisp English, making him easy to understand. That is, if it wasn't for the fast clip he generally spoke at, speeding through sentences without breaths or with very few pauses. "Heh, I get nervous around relatively new people. Hell, I've gotten nervous around people I know are relatives yet I haven't spoken to or don't remember well. Should get past this after a bit though, probably."

Ren's eyes sought out Trice. What did NA just say? So fast! The Asian replayed the words in his mind and hoped he was at least addressing things correctly.

"Hai, nice to meet you Jake," he politely nodded his head and replied in his usual slow rumble. "This is overwhelming. But, soon, get accustomed to."

I sound like a fuckiong moron, Ren chastised himself. People longed for their phones or other devices. Ren was missing his most prized possession: his Japanese/English dictionary. The faded little paperback was still on his desk back home. Where the hell was Tilt? There was an off chance that his fellow Asian might understand what he was trying to convey and perhaps insert the proper words in. And there goes Swith, right out the front door. Sonofabitch.

"Come, Jake. We follow them; we eat. Things will work out." Ren smiled and beckoned for him to follow the rest.

Jacob nodded, and started following after, somewhat wishing he had some shoes or at least some socks on. But it was to late now to get some. "Nice to meet you too, Cer. And yeah, we should get used to this soon, I agree. Just odd waking up in a bed that's not mine, in a completely different world, and without my phone, sketchbook, or anything.... Yeah, it sucks." He slowed down his speech somewhat, guessing that Cer might have difficulty keeping up if he spoke to rapidly, based on the fact he had appeared to take some time to think over a response.

"Sorry for the fast pace of my speech, too. I'm not used to speaking to people who might not have the best grasp on English,. Even though English speakers have difficulty keeping up with what i say at times." He chuckled a bit and pushed his glasses up a bit. As he spoke he looked at just about everything he could, from the floor to the ceiling to... well, everything. HE was at least glad his glasses had come with him, otherwise he'd be basically blind, unable to see clearly past half a foot in front of him, his eyesight was that bad. HE was also unwilling to buy contacts, or even try them. So it was great that he had his glasses, otherwise he would probably walk into walls every five minutes by accident.

He continued to smile faintly as he followed along with the group, guessing they were heading to Chaos or other well known places for the food mentioned by Cer.

[Tiltjuice]

Trice slowed her steps until Serina and Fvaar had nearly caught up with her. It was an odd feeling to be walking and talking with people she thought she'd never have the occasion to meet in real life. Sure, people had laughed at joining in on NS meetups but somehow this was much better. This was their own world, a home away from home for so many of them. Best Westerns and Red Roof Inns couldn't compare.

"I'm glad you brought the Ponies in to the game, Gio" she said by way of small talk. "At first, I really was nervous about it. I thought they'd be overly cute. Your character is pretty damn grim. I love reading his posts. Oh, and hello Fvaar. I'm Swith, but you can call me Trice." She pronounced her name TREE-chey.

Meanwhile, Bielefeld was teeming with life. Cars breezed past them and wound through the streets leading to the residential areas. Passengers boarded the Market Street Trolly in anticipation of a night spent strolling and window shopping on Main. The rumble of the subway could be heard echoing up from the nearby station entrance. These were all the normal occupants found in town, humble NPCs seldom seen because few players ever took the time to notice their surroundings as they traveled between destinations.

They passed char!Bran's workshop, which was shuttered tight for the night, and eventually found themselves entering the main section of Market. It was a vibrant place filled with delicious smells drifting in the early spring air.

"Which one of you said that? All of you are blobs to me, two short blobs and one tall one."

The voice sounded out of nowhere. A hand waved up and down as if trying to unsmear the image, which of course never works either in real life or imagination.

"Also, food is good."

[Giovenith]

Head shooting up at suddenly being addressed, as it often did (Serina had a tendency to go into lalaland a lot, and thus reacted sharply to being talked at), Serina looked around at the several people talking, nodding heavily with a polite smile at the one who must have been NVE, from the pictures and videos. She'd been shy when she was younger, now not so much, but she was quiet around new(?) people. At the defensive comment, she turned ahead with a neutral expression.

"When one wakes up in a building filled with strangers without warning, a natural reaction is to become defensive, considering you have no idea where you are or who you are with," she explained matter-of-factually, in a somewhat obnoxious manner, if one wanted to take it that way. People at school, depending on whether they previously liked her or not, often regarded her as either "fun to hear" or "a know-it-all bitch." Serina just said what sounded obvious. Upon being approached being a grey-eyed girl, she cleared her throat and spoke in a polite, nice tone.

"Giovenith," she answered Fvaar, nodding. "I'm Giovenith. And thank you... Swith? I worked hard for it. I thought someone would slaughter them before anyone would even notice his grimness.

[The Carlisle]

Remmy looked around at the city. She was awed by it. She had always lived the subrural life. City life was foreign to her. She had visited big cities before, but she never really gotten used to them. Which made each experience, even a repeat visit, fresh to her. She smiled happily. She loved the buildings of a city, even if she had never lived in one. Perhaps that is why she enjoyed them so much. She sniffed the air, smelling the vibrant smells of food. She licked her lips. She was hungry. Not eating breakfast usually does that.

"So where is this Chaos restaurant?" she said to Trice, "I'm famished."

[Monfrox]

Brit came up beside the group. "I'm really hoping all this tension will melt away soon. And we also figure out what the actual fuck is going on. I mean, seriously. Shit like this only happens in fanfics and manga. I should know, I started writing a fanfic about my friends and I getting stuck into a STALKER game. Still haven't done anything with it for a year, but oh well." He yawned again, still tired as hell. "Я устал. Let's get something to munch soon and hopefully ebebebebebeb pffffffffffffffft fuck it." He gave up on the sentence after flunking it halfway through. He took in the surrounding scenery. "Well it certainly looks like a nice place to live, that's for sure."

[Tiltjuice]

Brit came up beside the group. "I'm really hoping all this tension will melt away soon. And we also figure out what the actual fuck is going on. I mean, seriously. Shit like this only happens in fanfics and manga. I should know, I started writing a fanfic about my friends and I getting stuck into a STALKER game. Still haven't done anything with it for a year, but oh well." He yawned again, still tired as hell. "Я устал. Let's get something to munch soon and hopefully ebebebebebeb pffffffffffffffft fuck it." He gave up on the sentence after flunking it halfway through. He took in the surrounding scenery. "Well it certainly looks like a nice place to live, that's for sure."

"Live it up, latest blob," Tilt said in a resonant voice with a tinge of HK English to it. "The three female blobs who are now four female blobs are chattering away and ignoring us guys. Standard operating procedure. Say, do you want to see a magic trick?"

[Swith Witherward]

"Well, a small part of me wanted to have my character eat them," Trice admitted with a wry grin, "but it was much more fun having everyone swarm them when they first arrived. The whole drunken cider thing at the Carnival-"

Oh fuck, the Carnival! A quick glance towards the park told her that the Carnal Carnival was in fact NOT present.

"-anyway, that was hilarious."

She gestured up the block for Remmy's benefit. Cheerful violet light illuminated the sidewalk in front of the restaurant. "It's lovely inside. It's pretty much one of the main haunts when we want our characters to decompress. How ironic that we're going there now."

Trice turned to ask Fvaar a question and was promptly bopped in the face by an Asian Penguin Fairy's flailing hands.

"Son of a- ouch! Tilt? Tilt!"

This heralded the launch of another round of hugs. She'd recognized him from his picture, of course, which was a rare thing for anyone to see.

[The BranRiech]

After being glomped by Swith earlier, Brandon stayed off near the corner of the lobby, and only now realized that they were all heading out to Chaos. He looked down at himself, and knew it was probably freezing-cold outside, and he was only clothed in a T-shirt and jeans. The shirt had some sort of Soviet advertising on it, and it looked pretty out-dated.

"Wait, huh?"

For some reason, he'd not noticed the others, but now he quickly followed along, but at a distance, and refused to make any eye-contact with people.

[ApertureScienceInc]

"Hey, careful there man, she may get defensive." Mon warned as he stepped halfway between the rest of the group and Serina. He kinda figured it was Giov, but he always doubted himself. That was one of the things he had plenty of: Self-doubt. But it tended to not get in the way too much.

"If I can fight a mountain lion with my bare hands...wait that was a daydream. The point is that people trust me for reasons I cannot yet comprehend. Oh, and call me PXM rather than NVE. Although it may be slighly confusing, I feel like using my real initials today." PXM said to Mon before he left.

Following Trice into the night, PXM pulled the labcoat tighter around him to ward off the dreaded cold. He was accustomed to the desert heat, even though winters were still hell to deal with, especially the wind that threateaned to knock him over.

"I suppose that is the natural reaction, although the unnatural is much more interesting." He muttered to Serina.

"Mon, I subscribe to a modal realism version of the multiverse. In short, absolutely everything is possible. Reality is under no obligation to conform to our expectations. We could all be brains in jars and the programming simulating reality forgot the internet was not real. Or a cross dimensional event of some kind. Or one of us is dreaming this. Or we are the creations of writers in higher planes of existence. Or this is an elaborate, very expensive, hoax..." PXM replied to Mon, and then continued to go on about possible scenarios. He trailed off mumbling to himself things that made sense to only him.

[Fvaarniimar]

Trice slowed her steps until Serina and Fvaar had nearly caught up with her. It was an odd feeling to be walking and talking with people she thought she'd never have the occasion to meet in real life. Sure, people had laughed at joining in on NS meetups but somehow this was much better. This was their own world, a home away from home for so many of them. Best Westerns and Red Roof Inns couldn't compare.

"I'm glad you brought the Ponies in to the game, Gio" she said by way of small talk. "At first, I really was nervous about it. I thought they'd be overly cute. Your character is pretty damn grim. I love reading his posts. Oh, and hello Fvaar. I'm Swith, but you can call me Trice." She pronounced her name TREE-chey.

Meanwhile, Bielefeld was teeming with life. Cars breezed past them and wound through the streets leading to the residential areas. Passengers boarded the Market Street Trolly in anticipation of a night spent strolling and window shopping on Main. The rumble of the subway could be heard echoing up from the nearby station entrance. These were all the normal occupants found in town, humble NPCs seldom seen because few players ever took the time to notice their surroundings as they traveled between destinations.

They passed char!Bran's workshop, which was shuttered tight for the night, and eventually found themselves entering the main section of Market. It was a vibrant place filled with delicious smells drifting in the early spring air.

"Which one of you said that? All of you are blobs to me, two short blobs and one tall one."

The voice sounded out of nowhere. A hand waved up and down as if trying to unsmear the image, which of course never works either in real life or imagination.

"Also, food is good."

"Wow. It's interesting how many people there are here with bad vision." The bespectacled girl frowned at the very random apparently East Asian guy. "Didn't your glasses... I dunno how to put it, come along I guess? I mean, look at that guy over there." Fvaar pointed to Jacob. "Maybe they're in your... character's apartment somewhere." It still felt so weird to say stuff like that.

She turned back to Swith/Treechée and Giovenith. "Erm, hi, Swith, Triche, um?" Her squeaking, higher-pitched voice betrayed her increase in nervousness. Swith was nice and all, but she still was one of the "big cheeses" of PL, one of the most senior veterans where Fvaar was a newb attempting not to be a n00b. Giovenith, on the other hand, she'd been kinda wanting to say something specific to for a few weeks. This was a good opportunity, and it might serve as something of an icebreaker.

"So... I followed some of the links in your signature, Gio. Your factbook is really cool, and I also enjoyed that story... which unfortunately I can't remember the name of, but anyway, I liked it."

[Tiltjuice]

"Well, a small part of me wanted to have my character eat them," Trice admitted with a wry grin, "but it was much more fun having everyone swarm them when they first arrived. The whole drunken cider thing at the Carnival-"

Oh fuck, the Carnival! A quick glance towards the park told her that the Carnal Carnival was in fact NOT present.

"-anyway, that was hilarious."

She gestured up the block for Remmy's benefit. Cheerful violet light illuminated the sidewalk in front of the restaurant. "It's lovely inside. It's pretty much one of the main haunts when we want our characters to decompress. How ironic that we're going there now."

Trice turned to ask Fvaar a question and was promptly bopped in the face by an Asian Penguin Fairy's flailing hands.

"Son of a- ouch! Tilt? Tilt!"

This heralded the launch of another round of hugs. She'd recognized him from his picture, of course, which was a rare thing for anyone to see.

"Oof!" Tilt replied laconically, staggering backward a bit as he hugged back just as firmly. "Sorry about that, Swithers." The fennec-y one's voice was unmistakable - and up close, of course, he could see her much more clearly.

"I'm starting to think this is an Italian female thing, by the way. I've only ever been glomped IRL by two people, and both of them have Italian last names." The purple light was an odd contrast with her strawberry blonde hair, but he didn't mention it. "So who else is here? I recognize Gio's voice, but not anyone else's."

"Wow. It's interesting how many people there are here with bad vision." The bespectacled girl frowned at the very random apparently East Asian guy. "Didn't your glasses... I dunno how to put it, come along I guess? I mean, look at that guy over there." Fvaar pointed to Jacob. "Maybe they're in your... character's apartment somewhere." It still felt so weird to say stuff like that.

"Which guy?" Tilt turned his head over Swith's to look. "And no. My glasses are on my floor somewhere. I - that is, they fell off my desk. I was too lazy to pick them up and clean them off. Obvious bachelor. Plus I have contacts...or I did, before I took last night's pair out and tossed them."

[Erucia]

"Oof!" Tilt replied laconically, staggering backward a bit as he hugged back just as firmly. "Sorry about that, Swithers." The fennec-y one's voice was unmistakable - and up close, of course, he could see her much more clearly.

"I'm starting to think this is an Italian female thing, by the way. I've only ever been glomped IRL by two people, and both of them have Italian last names." The purple light was an odd contrast with her strawberry blonde hair, but he didn't mention it. "So who else is here? I recognize Gio's voice, but not anyone else's."

"Well, there is me!", Temmo came back around to Tilt, offering an arm for a half-hug. Now, the worries about home were replaced by the company of good friends. There wasn't time to worry about his father's birthday when all of these crazy people are around. "Are you doing decently, Tilt? Should I offer you a wolf cub?"