[IC Board] All the World's a Game - Season II

[Cucoo5]

Banished Library - Gensokyo | Dusk

"And now...it should project whatever the person is seeing and hearing..." Kenway said.

Spoiler:

(this is the part where we have to figure out what it will show because Yukari is sleeping...maybe if she's talking in her sleep...)

[WriggleRid3r]

Banished Library - Gensokyo

---

The skull soon began projecting a conversation after the blood vial was inserted.

"...you think there's anything to be done about this?" The first voice spoke: familiar to John. It was Ran.

"The past is a tapestry of what lies ahead. We must wait and see if her behaviors worsen. If it does..." The second voice was projected. This voice was dark and husky, and Annie knew exactly who that could be.

"Then I shall call upon you. You said you will be staying with the Eientei people?"

"Only until this matter is fixed. After that, I shall return back to Valoran."

"...very well."

"You've done a great service to protect both your master and this world. I will hear from you shortly."

[S121]

Banished Library - Gensokyo | Dusk

John couldn't see a thing in the projection, but he didn't need to to figure out who it was. John could hear just the faintest breathing in the projection, and based on that, he quickly deduced that this blood was Yukari's. The sudden revelation, caused John to silently gasp in shock. All of a sudden, many thoughts poured into his head. This strange man, Alvis, broke into their home and took blood from Yukari, the person he loved. This train of thought only served to make John angry, genuinely so. John quickly thought about why he was so upset over what happened, and easily found the answer why. Some strange man broke into their house and took blood from Yukari. John didn't know how normal civilian life worked, but he knew that there was something wrong, even somewhat disturbing with what Alvis did. Not only that, it also caused John to think about how easily he managed to enter the house. Who was to say that a truly malevolent person wouldn't do the same? Alvis might not have known it, but that drop of blood showed just how vulnerable Yukari was, despite her being powerful. If a malevolent person wanted, they could have killed her, right in her sleep. It was truly a disturbing thought to John, especially considering that the deed was done so easily. At first, John thought that he might have been overreacting and was being overly protective of Yukari, but the more John thought about it, the more those thoughts ate at his calm demeanor.

After a moment, John spoke.

"No... If Alvis ever does anything like this again, I'm going to kill him. I wouldn't care if he was the god of creation, or an interdimensional being, that is disturbing and wrong.", John said in a serious tone.





Prometheus Labs - London | Dawn

As Jack neared Prometheus Labs, his armor began to be affected by the device. All of a sudden, Jack's reaction time increased five-fold and was now able to react 1,750 times faster than the average human. Meanwhile, Jack's speed and strength increased five-fold as well, making him run at 1,500 mph. All of a sudden, a loud boom could be heard as Jack broke the sound barrier. As that happened, Jack's HUD became brighter and brighter as his shields overcharged past their maximum output and were now at x5 overshields. Jack was normally a very calm and collected person, but even this made him nervous. If any more of this happened, then the suit would break. As he tried to slow down, his GUNGNIR Arm Module began to overcharge and various warnings flashed on Jack's visor, telling him that the power coursing through his suit was going to damage it. Jack looked ahead and saw that if he didn't act now, he would ram straight through Prometheus Labs and would cause extensive damage to the facility. Thinking quickly, Jack activated his Armorlock as he ran. All of a sudden, Jack came to a sudden stop. Jack could have sworn that he almost tore a chunk out of the street with his sudden stop, but at least it was all over. Jack let out a sigh of relief, but now is suit's HUD was flashing red and was making a beeping noise, as if to warn him that his suit was having a meltdown. Just when things seemed dire, Jack's HUD disappeared and his suit shut off.

Jack was now a little worried, but was mostly angry that his suit might be permanently broken. Of course, he could always get a new one, but each suit was expensive and took time to build.

Jack quietly grumbled under his breath as he thought about his suit having a critical failure, and how Chung's device nearly sent him through The Labs.





To Prometheus Labs - London | Dawn

"Uh, I don't think so, but he will give a couple people quite a surprise.", Daniel said to Chung as he continued to drive.

All of a sudden, a very loud boom could be heard. The concussive force of the sound even managed to shake the Warthogs, lightly shaking the windshields and causing a slight disturbance with the vehicles.

"What was that!?", Lily asked the group in a surprised tone.

[Cucoo5]

Banished Library - Gensokyo | Dusk

Shulk looked and John slightly perplexed. "Huh? What do you mean? Do you know who the vial belongs to?"

[S121]

Banished Library - Gensokyo | Dusk

John looked over to Shulk after Shulk asked his question. Despite the fact that John was wearing armor, it was clear that he was upset.

"This blood is Yukari's, my wife's blood. Your friend broke into our house and took blood from her.", John said to Shulk in a serious, almost angry sounding tone as he removed the cube with Yukari's blood in it.

[Cucoo5]

Banished Library - Gensokyo | Dusk

"Huh? Oh right! Your wife! But...how can you be sure he broke in? Did she ever go to like a blood drive or-?"
Kenway then interrupted Shulk. "That aside, kid, I understand what your feeling, John." He walked over to him and offered to take the Observatory and to hand back the vial. "The curious part about this is what was the conversation we overheard?"
"Oh? Yea there was that too...maybe...maybe Alvis gave us the vial so we would here that conversation?"
"That's fairly unlikely. He would have needed to know about the time when the conversation was and where we were AND if we even had the Observatory."
"True...but Alvis...he's a seer too."
"A seer? So...he can see the future as well?"
"Right. Albeit his ability is far greater than my own. He also doesn't do things without reason...and I feel as though there's more to everything he told us and what he gave us."

[S121]

Banished Library - Gensokyo | Dusk

John was so upset with what had happened that he almost forgot about the conversation that Ran seemed to have with a mystery guest. He did remember seeing Annie react strangely to the voice, so perhaps she knew who it was. Either way, John needed to figure out not only why Alvis took the blood, but also who that mystery guest was.

"There's obviously more than what he told us. He barely gave us anything. All he did was hand us a book, dodged questions, and when he did answer, he wouldn't give us a straight one. In my line of work, not having intel can get people killed.", John said to Shulk in a slightly calmer tone as he put the cube in his storage compartment.

[Kristia]

Banished Library - Gensokyo

Renamon sighed as she was seeing everything on the sidelines "John, by this time you should know that many beings of the diferent worlds act so cryptic. They can´t just tell us were to go" She said walking to the group and looked at both shulk and Kenway

"Im sure both of you ahve met someone like that in your worlds, they tell us something, but it can mean anything depending on how we see it, thats how the programmers made them. Those cryptic people have the purpose to both confuse and guide the player like guilty spark in your universe John, he had the purpose to help you, but then changed throughout your quest" she explained to the trio of men

"But back to what matters, what else do we need here? our time is getting shorter and shorter, if it gets too short, we will have to bend time" the fox said gesturing the ocarina she had on her paw "But let me warn you, each second is like gold now"

[Cucoo5]

Banished Library - Gensokyo | Dusk

"Right. And Alvis believes that we have to find our own path to the future. That's why he doesn't state things explicitly. If he told us what is going to happen exactly as he saw them, we might not make the proper realizations in order to change the future. Things don't happen without reason. And Alvis believes in letting things happen as naturally as possible while giving us just enough of a warning in order for us to realize when we must change the future." Shulk paused for a moment. "When the time comes, we will know what to do. And we'll be ready."

"Now I'm not to familiar with these fortune tellers, but we do need to focus on the original task. And I think that's why this Alvis fellow said to go Save Yuuka now and then come back to finish up things here." Kenway added.

[Kristia]

Banished Library - Gensokyo | Dusk


Nera got back from reading some books and spoke to everyone "Then let´s move, I had enough with this guardians, yet for some reason I think they will reappear if we go back walking, unless we travel with John´s portals or use my escape ropes" she said cleaning her bandages and got ready to go

[S121]

Banished Library - Gensokyo | Dusk


John was still a little bit angry about Alvis, but at least it was lessening. John still thought that what Alvis did was not okay, but they had more important things to worry about. John looked over to Nera and spoke.

"Let's save the escape ropes for an emergency. You never know when they'll be needed.", John said to Nera in a calmer tone than he had previously used.

After that, John walked back over to to Bailey and spoke.

"I apologize for the interruption, I was just given more information.", John calmly apologized to Bailey.

[Luna Pixu]

Spare Room - Sector 2 - Prometheus Labs - London | Dawn

---

As the sun rose over London and the activity in and around Prometheus Labs began to pick up, two people could be found in one of the few spare rooms in Sector 2. Cole and Flandre had given one of the spare rooms to stay in for as long as they would be staying. At first, Cole thought that meant the two of them would only be in there for a few days before being kicked out but it appeared that the scientists and the nearby SPARTANs didn't mind. Most of them knew of Flandre and what she had done in this "Devourer Incident" so they were willing to give her a room and since they recognised Cole as being some sort of friend or ally of hers, they didn't mind Cole much. They would still give Cole strange looks and stare at him but it wasn't too major.

The cafeteria and conversations with Flandre? Having their meal in the cafeteria wasn't difficult. From what Cole had seen of Flandre, she seemed perfectly capable and even very willing to eat various kinds of food instead of feeding on blood. In fact, Flandre was too focused on eating that she didn't even hear what Cole had to say or even noticed him. Either she was really hungry at the time or was having a really nice meal. Shortly after having their meal, Cole and Flandre had then inquired about a place to stay and was given the room. Upon finding their room, Flandre very quickly fell asleep meaning that Cole was unable to talk to her about what she is or even anything about herself. All the discussion would have to be saved for the morning when the two of them were both awake. Cole took this opportunity to speak to a few of the staff members and SPARTANs while she was asleep. Cole learned a couple of things including that this place was being used for the training of SPARTANs and development of new weaponry and technology. Some of the things discussed were rather fascinating but too much to take in for one night. Cole quickly went to bed after that and tried to go to sleep.

Cole laid in his bed. He wasn't sure on how long he had been awake but it seemed like it had been an hour or two. Cole couldn't get much sleep following what had happened yesterday. So much had happened in the span of one day. The escape from Organisation XIII's capture, Flandre's attempted murder of Cole, and all the ACO and Prometheus nonsense. Cole wasn't sure on what he preferred. Freedom with Flandre in a vastly unknown and dangerous world. Or in Organisation XIII's containment.
As Cole pondered over all of what had been happening, a certain figure approached Cole. It was hard to make out as there was barely any light in the room. Either it was a Prometheus staff member who had decided to check in on the two or-
"Morning, Cole!" A cheery female voice said. Cole looked towards the source of the voice and saw Flandre standing right beside his bed with a large grin on her face. A change of pace from the calm and quiet nature that Flandre was showing last night. Maybe it was just that Flandre was out of it last night and she just cheered up. Cole cleared his voice and stretched his arms and legs before speaking to the vampire.
"Oh. Hey, Flandre. How you doing?" Cole asked.
"I'm doing goood!" Flandre replied with a playful giggle. "Cole, are you going to play with me? You said you were going to play last night." She followed up. It appeared the girl was really eager to go play with Cole.

[WriggleRid3r]

Banished Library - Gensokyo

---

"No need to apologize, sir." Bailey sniffed, touched by Patchouli's commitment to prolong Bailey's much-needed immortality. "Now, here is the Temporal Skill Mastery. If you wish to use it, open the book, and speak of one skill you wish to gain mastery of. Then, for ten minutes, you will be considered expert at the skill you have requested and nothing else."

[S121]

Banished Library - Gensokyo | Dusk

As John received the book, he nodded at Bailey and spoke.

"Thank you. You don't know how much this means.", John said to Bailey as he opened up the book and spoke.

"Animatography.", John said.

[WriggleRid3r]

Banished Library - Gensokyo

---

The Temporal Skill Mastery spellbook brightened up, first like a candlelight, then like a light bulb, and finally like a bright star, forcing Patchouli, Annie, and Bailey, as well as everyone else to cover their eyes and wait for the light to subside...

And it did, after 5 or so seconds. When the light died out, John suddenly could feel like his brain expanding... Not literally of course, but his mind capacities. And that brain space was replaced with everything there is to know about Animatography... How one could imbue the soul of an animal into a human to change the human's behavior into that of a primal being... Or in vice versa, imbue the human's soul into an animal to make the animal civilized... Even be able to speak and act like human... How one could wield souls of the tales, stories, and other intangible objects to create legends... And, what John was looking for: how to retrieve and rejuvenate a soul. Rejuvenating a soul is relatively easy, if the Animatographer knew the subject sufficiently, and when the subject is still holding majority of his or her soul, then complete recovery is the majority of cases. But when the subject holds less than the majority of his or her soul, then the possibility of failure begins to appear... Until when the subject's soul is completely gone... To which the chance of full recovery is about 0.05%.