Posts made by Trouble

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8UXircX3VdM

So this is something that I've been thinking about on and off for the last few months. I've vanished from around here more than once, and underneath whatever other excuses I had was this:

The fact is that I think we've reached a point where I don't like the memberbase here and they don't like me. You feel free to spin this into whatever melodramatic thing suits you, but at its core it's just simple utilitarianism; removing myself from situations and environments that cause me pain. I'm just not satisfied being the designated Mean Jock around here, and there certainly isn't any payoff. You can't hold a very good conversation with someone who's desperate for an acceptable target.

As for the RP itself, I already tried cutting ties once and I think it's time I went through with it once and for all. It's been a constant distraction from my other projects, and if there's one thing I've learned about myself it's that I'll always look for a distraction. I don't enjoy the RP, and I'm no longer able to enjoy talking with most of the memberbase due to the weird power struggles.

So is this happening because of that thing just happened? Sure. It's also happening because every time for the past few months I've tried to ask myself why I was still here, I could only come up with half an answer.

And when you get right down to it, it's happening because you couldn't handle me after all.

So, cheers. I'll stick around for a bit to handle all the weak baiting and shaky assurances that no, you didn't really care about me at all, honest.

(And I get that this is awfully backhanded but maybe if I burn my bridges it'll be tougher to go back on it this time. This is really something I need to do.)

e: This is the theme song for this goodbye.

This is sounding more and more like Magical Diary.

Quote (Fera)

Completely missable and difficult-to-access ecchi scenes.

Make them poorly-drawn so no one wants to see them anyw --

who am I kidding?

While making different "paths" for each faction would probably be more trouble than it's worth, the back-and-forth sabotage and covert hostility between them seem like good framing devices for whatever conflict you want to base this thing around. It basically writes itself.

(Also Iris and Cheshire as freelance reconnaissance slash burglars, natch. BI)

Ahaha, whoah! I think it was just a month ago I was looking through old posts and thinking "man, it sucks that these people disappeared". Welcome back, guy!

More an indicator that the chat's a better choice for this sort of thing, probably.

I mean, that way you don't have maudlin nonsense from a year ago hanging over everything you say.

It's cool to see that we've had an influx of new members recently, but I wish they'd spend more time around the chat.

Then again, the fact that the chat is 90% of the way I keep in touch with the forum is maybe just a personal problem.

It looks as if people have found more or less all of the most promising propositions, skin-wise. At least, everything that's been found so far is familiar to me from my preliminary search. The Invisionfree skinning scene isn't nearly as popular as it once was, I'm afraid, meaning that most of the options we have are mid-00s as hell.

Also, a reminder that (provided the creator's conditions of use allow for it) we will be subtly altering the colouration of whatever is selected. Primarily the message backgrounds, to make sure that the coloured text that many members use to symbolize spoken lines is still visible.

Cheshire stood frozen in the booth, her ear pressed against the cool metal door. Over the dull pounding o f the blood in her ears, she heard the gurney and the footsteps of its entourage fade away. She slid the door open just a crack and peered out, waiting for some sign of movement to betray itself before stepping back out into the room. She smiled; There, cast aside by one of the chefs, was the solution to her camouflage problem. The black silk wrap that covered her body gradually drew back as she picked up the article and examined it, leaving only a gentle criss-cross of ribbons coiling behind her back and between her hips. The result was anything but decent, and she could feel her skin pebbling in the cold despite the steam. She hurriedly pulled the apron on and tied it at her waist; its owner had thankfully been wide enough that it came together in the back, but...

She glanced at her arm, black silk standing out plainly against white clooth and white steam. There was still something to be done about that, wasn't there? There was a faint sound of tearing cloth, and shortly Cheshire was tying strips of white cloth over the silk arm, the "skirt" of the impromptu camouflage much shorter than it had been before.

Her silent footfalls brought her near to the exit leading into the west hall, but some movement out of the shadows caught her eye and she spun toward the cages, hurriedly slipping out of sight and proceeding closer between the few remaining statues. A smile crossed her lips as she regarded the imprisoned figures, casually striding out of cover and looking the captives over. "That's quite a mess you're in..."

Cheshire blinked, slipping back along the far wall as the masked figure began to collect the statues onto his palette. The hulk was moving with far greater speed than she had imagined someone of his bulk could lay claim to; something that came with a lifetime of rote labour, she supposed. No cause for surprise, she supposed; it was her years of running and hiding that had made her so lethally effective at it, after all.

As happy as she was to reflect on her own skill, though, her options for staying hidden were being rapidly diminished. Staying concealed in the cluster of statues was right out, naturally; the longer she stayed there, the more likely it was that the next figure the large navi hoisted onto his cart would be a living one. The kitchen was right over there, of course, but running around in bright light with little idea where she was (and covered head to toe in black, no less -- she'd need to figure out some other means of camouflage against the lighter walls and floors) was a move for a panicked amateur. Her eyes drifted toward the cages sitting at the other side of the room only briefly. Right. And save them the trouble of locking me up themselves.

Then there was only one option. She liked it that way; no regrets, right?

Casting a quick glance around to make sure the navi were still engrossed in their boring routine, she made for the open machine with preternatural speed, her feet scarcely touching the ground. It took every bit of her reflex and balance not to slam into the inner wall as she entered, her legs spread and her arms tensed against the smooth metal. She didn't so much as breathe as she turned, taking careful grip of the sliding phone-booth door and easing it silently shut. Her palms remained fixed to the paneled metal; though she could no longer be seen, being unable to see anything outside kept her uneasy. This way, at least she'd be prepared if some large grey hand suddenly wrenched the door open.

A torrent of warm, steamy air blew past Cheshire's face as she peered through the opening she had created, carrying with it the scent of fine cooking. Not a patch on Tonglen's facilities, particularly on busy evenings, but enticing all the same. A sudden temptation came over her: there were enough heelnavis around that surely they wouldn't miss one, right? She could just grab one of them through the ceiling and have a little snack before moving on, couldn't she...?

She shook her head and tried to push the hunger back into some other corner of her mind. Making a scene in the personal stronghold of a high-ranking Mafia navi probably wouldn't end well for her... and besides. With luck, the payoff for this little job would end that problem once and for all. She just had to stay focused until then.

Her eyes swept over what she could see of the kitchen through the shadows and the steam. The place was crowded, for one thing; all the navis running around at work would make a quick dash tot he hall nearly impossible. It was dark, though, and shrouded in steam besides. If she made her way through the shadows at the edges of the room, then just maybe she could make her way past the kitchen staff and begin her search in earnest.

She gingerly set the glass off to the side, hoping as she withdrew her tendrils that none of them would look up at the dome for a little while at least. She'd only made a small hole, but all the same the thought that someone was peeping could rouse suspicion. As for herself... The hole was too small to squeeze through, but now that she had some idea of the room's layout she had other methods. She crouched some distance away, not bothering to recreate her left hand as the bandages spread out over the surface of the roof. Before long the tiles were black with crawling strands -- and suddenly, Cheshire began to sink beneath the roiling surface and descend into the kitchen through the roof, leaving not a mark as she passed.

She landed without a sound in a shadowed corner near a large cage, surrounded by odd statues. They were thickly grouped, but there was enough room for her to slowly sidle between them in a low crouch, putting out one hand to steady herself -- and finding a handful of curved stone breast beneath her fingers. She pulled away, her cheeks reddening beneath the mask. She couldn't guess at the function of these statues, but she was thankful for the weird camouflage they lent her. Watching warily, she edged toward the sparking phonebooth, peering tentatively past a sculpted ass to try and get a better measure of its function. She doubted it would lead her to the helmet, but curiosity had always been one of her worst vices.

If you've already got Parachat, it's just a matter of logging in to the chat on your PC, clicking the "Mobile" tab, and writing down the information that comes up in the pop-up -- either WAP or iPhone, depending on what your device is. If you plug that information into the app, it'll remember this chatroom and you'll be able to connect.

(I say "just" but, like everything else with ParaChat, I find it a little bit janky...)

Those MudFlop1s sound kind of cool... Would you trade one of them for a BubbleStar1? It's pretty good at setting things up for something big, especially if you have a lot of Elec chips... but I don't!

♥Cheshire

[ATTACHMENTS]
BubbleStar1 [PENDING TRADE]

Hey, me again! That AquaNeedle1 looks tempting, but I'm not sure it's 1500z worth of tempting...

How about a discount given our business history? Say, 1000z instead?

I'll make it up to you later, hahaha~

♥Cheshire

[ATTACHMENTS]
1000z [PENDING TRADE]

Cheshire smiled behind the silk mask, happy as always to watch from the rooftops. It looked as if strolling in through the gates was out, if it had ever been part of the plan. She doubted anyone would remember her brief fling with the NetMafia, and being led straight to the owner of the bathhouse felt like something to be avoided -- the fewer people who saw her before she made off with the helmet, the better.

She made her way over to the far-west window with low, crouching strides, reflecting on her good luck as she went. While it was nothing to rely on, meeting with a new recruit at least meant that Boss Oni would be busy for the next little while. Plenty of time to dodge whatever guards there were and find the helmet. And if the helmet happened to be on Boss Oni's head, well... she'd take things one step at a time.

The glass dome was just as opaque from fog as the others had led the thief to suspect, leaving no clue as to what the question-mark on the map might actually be. There was a simple solution to that, though; she pressed the palm of her left hand against the glass, the black silk parting and spreading over the surface. There was the hiss of water under pressure, and then nothing -- the tendrils slipped past the surface of the dome and lifted a large circular portion free of its mounting. Shielding her eyes from the billowing steam, Cheshire peered through to see what lay within the room. Curiosity killed the cat, but you had to know how to take risks in this line of work.

░▒▓█▐└┬╢ＡＣＴＩＯＮＳ╟┬┘▌█▓▒░

• AquaSword - Cut an opening in Window 1.
  

[♫]

The building's surroundings were dark and cool, a sharp contrast to the gaudy structure belching steam at their center. A ways away from the building's rear, a clump of grass flattened itself seemingly at random -- it wasn't until Cheshire's figure faded into view that the cause became clear. Her lips curled into a sneer as she viewed the building before her. The place had definitely not been designed to attract customers. Such a flashy structure seemed to fit what she'd seen of the boss so far, though. She might have quipped to Iris, but her partner was always dead silent at times like this unless there was something that absolutely needed to be said. While she doubted there was any sophisticated security here, the two were wary of broadcasting anything that might be picked up on by the wrong people.

So she made her way silent towards the back wall, the black silk that made up her clothes slithering further over her skin. The resultant bodysuit covered her completely, save for around her eyes and a tiny patch of skin at the base of her tail. It wasn't too unlike the factory-standard navi wear, save for the way the suit split at the toe like tabi -- the girl was still a traditionalist in some ways.

The roof appeared unguarded, which suited Cheshire just fine. As accustomed to rooftops as she was, it was an easy leap. Getting inside, on the other hand... She reviewed the map (criminally bare though it was) as she approached the smaller eastern window, pausing as faint voices caught her ear. Finding out just what the mapmaker had meant by "Banquet" could wait for later; whatever those voices were, they could mean a quick way in. she crouched just out of sight at the roof's edge, scanning the ground for the voices' owners.

However Cheshire had been expecting her new employer to react, the brief flash of panic on his face and his long stream of stammered excuses went above and beyond. The catlike navi found herself fighting to hold back her laughter, shielding her face with one hand to try and hide the way her face contorted from the effort. It was important to keep professionalism in mind, after all -- never mind that all the half-muted snickering was unprofessional by anyone's standards. She managed to compose herself, more or less, by the time he had begun his briefing.

Well... it tried to be a briefing, at least. His rambling instructions revealed more about ChronicleMan's own character than anything relevant to the job itself. He was desperate, there no mistaking that -- and Cheshire and Iris had both learned that desperation led people to do unsavoury things. Of course, hiring Cheshire's services was fairly unsavoury in and of itself...

She weathered the man's explanations and excuses with about as much patience as she was capable of, even going to far as to nod once in a while. She couldn't help but grin at his hasty omissions; even the name was more than enough to go by. She'd seen enough of the creature in the Mafia's various PR attempts to understand that stealing something from him would require more than a little delicacy. Same old, same old.

Like her namesake, Cheshire was well-accustomed with hiding how much she knew. The map, she gave a short glance, but there seemed to be a great deal to it -- She'd rather just refer back to it as needed. The ribbons that constituted her arm shifted and swarmed around it, storing the data for later reference. With that finished, she gave her employer a bright, affirmative nod. "I'll have it for you before the night is over. Just point me toward this bathhouse of his and I'll get to work!"

There were questions, of course. There always were. Likely entrances, people to be avoided, how busy the place might be... Even how the helmet might look. Cheshire didn't give a damn, though; it had been a while since she had been contracted for such a high-stakes, high-profile job, and she was planning to enjoy every minute of it.

Well-oiled welcome.

Oh, it's you! Hi!