Time Of Truthiness!

[unbroken_chain]

Who: Everyone!
Where: All over the city!
Summary: The Time of Truthiness is upon Hinoto-Ri!
Warnings: Basically everything.

It begins. A strange aura spreads out over Hinoto-Ri, stealing into the hearts, minds, and mouths of every denizen of the city, changing them - embiggening their souls with the power of TRUTHINESS.

For one week, Hinoto-Ri becomes a city where no lies can exist. Who is responsible for this? Will their dedication to ABSOLUTE TRUTHINESS bring them victory...or defeat?

DUN DUN DUUUUUN

Tune in to the Destiny Strings Broadcast Special: Time of Truthiness to find out!


ooc: okay folks, go ahead and mingle!

Comments

[angryyoungvamp]

"Um, I'm more like the vampire mayor. The title's actually Prince, but that's mostly because a lot of vampires are old-fashioned. Vampires mostly organize within one city, so it ends up looking like a Wild West boomtown - the guy in charge of the actual vampire police is even called the Sheriff. And it's usually the Sheriff and a few deputies doing that job, but there aren't usually that many vampires in a city that it gets to be a problem."

He pauses for a moment as if calculating. "Metatropolis was a pretty big city and had a lot of vampires for its size, and I don't think there were ever more than about forty of us at the absolute most."

[phantom_envoy]

"...Huh. So vampires are suckers for historical dramas. Maybe I'll start calling you Prince Maugris from now on. ...Or London whatever your real name was." She would have to go take a look at the apartment listing again.

"So what happens if a human does find out about you guys?" Drawn and quartered, each vampire gets a limb. "Or if one of your vampires gets out of control?"

[angryyoungvamp]

"Landen. And nobody calls me that. I'd prefer just Maugris. I can't really be Prince if I'm here, and anyway I really hated being Prince."

He shrugs his shoulders, looking uncomfortable. "There are... different ways. If it's just a glimpse of something they shouldn't have seen there's a trick some vampires have where they can basically wallpaper over someone's short-term memory." He's deliberately picked the most harmless option - and it says a lot about the other options that he thinks that one is the most harmless.

"A vampire who gets out of control mostly gets threatened with the fact that there are bigger and badder vampires out there who would prefer they stay in control. If that doesn't work, they get kicked out of the city and have to find somewhere else - and vampires do communicate with each other, enough that if they go to a new city they can expect the people there to know. If they're really bad, the threats even get carried out." He doesn't like that part.

[phantom_envoy]

"As you please, Prince Landen."

Phantom Girl will, of course, sweep her cape out as she descends to one knee in a bow as is customary with royalty.

"So what happens if, say, some plucky investigative reporter is watching in an alleyway when one of your vampires takes the blood he needs from a passerby? And then he follows you around because that's what plucky investigative reporters do?" Whether or not she had said as much, the point of these questions were, of course, to make a judgment concerning Maugris and his vampire culture.

[psimera]

It doesn't take the Commander too long to notice Lucas - he's already scanning the crowd, after all, even if he doesn't hear a word. The yellow, combined with that height, is a dead giveaway - even if the Commander hasn't really looked at himself in the mirror often enough to recognize the other as a near mirror-image, he's seen the boy before. One needle, a second needle just barely in time to pull it for Master Porky, then a third where he was defeated before he could even reach it - the Commander's torn about whether to hold a grudge about that or not, it might impair his reasoning, but at the same time that was so frustrating...

Either way, the appearance of an enemy means he lifts his helmet and yanks it down onto his head in one smooth motion, visible eye going almost blank. For a second, he's not sure what he's going to do right afterward - he wonders momentarily if Lucas's the reason he's in this place, but no, if Lucas had that sort of power, it'd probably be Master Porky here instead. More logical.

Master Porky's enemy has to know something, though. Especially since he didn't show nearly that level of discomfort the last time the Commander remembers running into him. The Commander slides out his sword, not even considering the possibility of negative reactions among the bystanders - he'd never expect anybody in New Pork City to interfere - and approaches.

[hachitaro]

I'll help you find yourself again. I promise.

[He rubs Hizumi's back gently, trying to calm him.]

[angryyoungvamp]

"Well, for a start the vampire in question gets in serious trouble for not just getting spotted, but letting himself get followed around. As for the reporter... any evidence he has gets mysteriously lost or damaged. His stories never quite seem to make it to print." He shrugs. "He keeps pushing, he might lose his job, even get recommended to see a psychiatrist about his delusions about vampires. A lot of vampires are good at manipulating mortal society behind the scenes - assuming a reporter trying to break news about a conspiracy of vampires doesn't get put on psychiatric leave all on his own."

He really, really hopes she doesn't ask what happens if the reporter keeps going. That's where things get ugly, and Maugris is starting to work out that he can't actually lie at the moment.

[bondsofsuffering]

It's not that simple.

[He chokes, here.]

After that, the only option is--

[The words, already halting as it is, just come to a complete stop.]

[trombeoverride]

From a nearby food car the chef looks over.

"Ratings are how many people watch the broadcast and dictate how much they can charge to advertise during it. Its one of the reasons the news is more about sensationalism than news anymore."

[a_gentle_boy]

He watches the motions of the Masked Man dimly, his mind still swimming in a fog. Claus - here. How could it be? In his wildest imaginations, he occasionally entertained the thought of his family being revived with the rest of the world as the power of the Dragon was brought to bear. ...He was hardly so naive as to think it likely, though. But here, in Hinoto-Ri... A demon? A demon projecting an illusion to strike where he was most vulnerable? ...It seemed unlikely. It was broad daylight - and surely no illusion could capture such an image so precisely. The brisk stride Lucas remembers well, the stiff bearing of a commander of armies, the gleam of the sun off the polished blade...

"Claus..."

He had always known, hadn't he? No mere passing resemblance could have offered him the security he needed to infiltrate the Clayman Factory; who else could possibly be suited to pull the Needles but his genetic duplicate? But where Flint had vainly hoped and prayed for three years, Lucas had found his own hope in the thought of his twin together with their mother. ...To some extent, perhaps, they had both been right. It was only when the helmet had been removed that he could truly believe...

Hinoto-Ri had the power to defy the limits of space and time. Much like a certain self-styled king he had known. The person standing before him, then... This person was much less likely to be brother than chimera. He was in danger, no doubt. He would want to fight. ...Still, Lucas's only motion as the Masked Man approaches is to slide a hand up his chest and grasp at the badge pinned to his shirt.

He can still find no words.

[phantom_envoy]

"Hm."

Phantom Girl has more or less figured out where this is leading on her own.

"Well. Totally ruining his life means he's still got one left to ruin, at least. This kind of thing is hard on normal humans, isn't it? I suppose coming out into the open and establishing some sort of vampire blood bank to keep you all satiated is out of the question."

[all_wound_up]

Oh, Desco-chan...

[Nano frowns, crouching down to give the little demon a hug. That's really kind of a sad thing to hear.]

[all_wound_up]

[Nano blinks for a moment at all of that.]

O-oh. Um... thank you for the warning.

[tyrantball]

Desco returns the hug, because she's clingy like that, but quickly loses herself in thought before coming to a decision. Taking a deep breath to prepare herself, she whispers something.

"Big Sis is a ghost."

At this statement, Desco claps both claws over her mouth as tears begin to gather in the corners of her red eyes.

"Oh no...Desco is sorry, Big Sis! She didn't mean to disobey your orders!"

[hachitaro]

To kill you, right?

[Just... gonna keep rubbing his back like he's an overgrown kid.]

[all_wound_up]

A...

[Nano's about to repeat the word ghost, but it seems Desco's even more distressed about something else.],/small>

W-what? What's wrong? What did you do? What orders?

[tyrantball]

Desco manages to spy Shura during one of her nightly jogs and silently floats after her - she might not have speed on her side, but the ability to maintain a minimum altitude is useful for following people.

Also, assuming Shura isn't ridiculously oblivious, the fact that Desco is following her is blatantly obvious. The Final Boss makes no sudden moves, however, and is seemingly content to just follow.

Maybe she just wants to talk?

[tyrantball]

"Hi Mr. Gale!"

Desco is all smiles as she floats over to where Gale is fighting some demons, her claws glistening with a fresh coat of blood.

"Here, Desco got you a present!"

With that, one of her secondary tentacles gently tosses the head of a red dragon towards him. Beaming, Desco continues to speak.

"All Desco asks in return is that you give her back the skull! She's starting to get bored of stripping the meat off herself."

Leo, 13th Hour

[unbroken_chain]

Kotoha recently got a new Persona from the Velvet Room shortly after the whole kidnapping debacle - apparently something had happened that opened up a new vista of power for her. She's set aside a night to familiarize herself with the new power, which is why she's currently fighting a large group of strange mummy-like creatures.

Although she doesn't look worried, she is also ridiculously outnumbered - there's at least a dozen of the things around her, and from the sound of it there's more on the way.

[angryyoungvamp]

"I don't like it, but it's the best option we've got. Besides, if he's smart enough to keep his mouth shut on his own it can be kept from going too far." Or if you lie like hell to your superiors and hope they don't look into it further.

"But no, going public won't really work. Best case, nobody believes us and they think we're all crazy. Worst case, it's stakes and torches time. And that's without dealing with what vampires would do if they thought they didn't have to hide anymore." They've been over that part enough that she gets the idea, he's pretty sure.

[dontcallmeerky]

"I... see. That really can't be a good system. I mean, I can tell that, and I don't even know what a broadcast is."

Of course, entirely separate from that point, Erk has just been made aware there's a food car... and he's managed to spend time reading when he should, theoretically, have had lunch. He's still a little wary about the screaming metal deathtraps that take up the middle of the road, but that doesn't stop his stomach from grumbling rather loudly.

[tyrantball]

"Big Sis only accepted Desco as her little sister because Desco promised to obey her every command! And since Big Sis refuses to admit she's dead, Desco wouldn't admit it either! But Desco just told the truth, which means she broke her promise, and now she isn't a little sister anymore and she's going to lose all her power and drop back to level 1 and and and...!"

And with that, Desco begins wailing, great heaving sobs wracking her tiny frame as tears flow freely from all seventeen of her eyes.

[trombeoverride]

"No, when money becomes more important than the news people care more about making demons than telling the truth."

Ratsel shakes his head and goes about cleaning the grill on his cart, adjusting his goggles slightly.

[meaningdies]

"It's not a look a lot of people would find cute, unfortunately."

Sorry to break it to you, kid.

[meaningdies]

"I have, yes. Since... September of last year, I believe."