Ally-hunting

[press_start]

Who: Nanami, Open Invitation
Where: Streets of Hinoto-Ri, 13th Hour
Summary: If wandering around until you found a party worked for MMORPGs, why shouldn't it work here?
Warnings: nil

The sky was red. Nanami Chiaki was, once again, ignoring common sense and wandering around.

Then again, many players did that, didn't they.

Battles were supposedly best done in pairs here- thanks to that, it was apparently a thing for some people to make appointments on the Network. Nanami had browsed the Network messages, gotten an idea of which locations would be rife with demonhunters tonight- and in retrospect she should've made a comment, maybe, but it felt...... ...... ..... it felt awkward to say anything when everyone seemed to know everyone else. Yeah. Nanami was not good with networking. (A pity this site was called the Network. Eyyerugh, her kyrptonite!! Haha.)

The plan was to one- find a fellow hunter to tag-team with, and two- a quest aptly described by miming a gun with your hands and going pew pew pew. Or even better, ratatatatatatata like a machine gun, and cue evil laughter. Her Evoker was in her hand and she absently experimented with flipping it about once in a while as she strolled. There were growls and indescribably grotesque animal noises- but there were also large buildings with their anti-demon barriers, that Nanami made it a point to landmark in her mind in case she ever encountered something she didn't feel like fighting. 

In many cases it took less effort outsprinting your average Rattata-class mook than actually engaging them. Quest One had to be cleared before progress could be counted for the next. 

Now, time to go player-hunting! 

Comments

[press_start]

".....oh." Oh.

"Oh, people don't fly a lot where I come from.... so that's something interesting."

[tyrantball]

"Well, not everyone can be as amazing as Desco, after all!"

[press_start]

Looked like a bit of a character with a narcissism complex. Noted for future reference.

"....that's true." Short laugh. Nanami was kind of running out of things to say, though, she wasn't the best conversation partner..... ..... pauses were not good things.... .... ...

".....say, ah, what brings Queen Desco out here tonight?"

[tyrantball]

"Hunting! Desco is beating up unlicensed demons!"

Pause.

"Now, new subject, you will be helping your Queen!"

[press_start]

Ah, right. Exactly where she was hoping the conversation to go. Hunting unlicensed demons sounded like a great levelgrinding activity.

Nanami wasn't too sure about the 'new subject' thing, but she couldn't really think of anything particular to do about it, so....

"Help you beat up unlicensed demons? Mmm, I'd like to."

(Galaga beeped softly underneath her in what most likely would not be interpreted as enthusiasm. Too few people spoke the Early Arcade Game Robot dialect.)

[tyrantball]

"Then follow Desco, subject!"

And off she goes to pick a fight with weird grey fairy things.

"Desco and Retro Girl will beat you all up!"

[press_start]

Cue in-combat BGM. Nanami half-expected for there to be a health bar appearing somewhere for their new opponent- how else were they supposed to know how hard to hit, after all?

Ah, right, this was real life. Dubiously realistic real life, as a big part of her life had turned out to be, but that was besides the point. "I assume we attack at will? Do you know if these things are weak to anything?"

It didn't matter too much if Desco didn't have an answer because Nanami wasn't planning to wait for one, anyway. If it was her turn she took it. Her spaceship beeped in a way that would never in a million years be interpreted as determination, and opened fire.

> Attack: Dream Needle

[tyrantball]

Ooo, right in the weakness! Desco's limiting herself today - she's got out Kogasa, her creepy combat umbrella, so she just pulps one of the Zombie Fairies with a simple swipe, shaking the remains off nonchalantly as she observes Nanami fight.

[press_start]

A backwards glance reveals that Desco is doing fine without having much Persona action. Well, some games are just as big on player hack-and-slashing as utilizing a summon- but not where Nanami's from, sadly, she does have classmates who are downright badass with a weapon (or even without) but she's as civilian as they come.

As someone who's treating this a little like a Pokemon game it's a bit of a conundrum to figure out how a cross-genre hack-and-slasher might fit into this. The Galaga's got quite a few support moves that would work great in a group context, and learning to work in a group context is supposedly what Nanami's out to achieve.... but would Revolution really boost the effectiveness of a creepy combat umbrella?

Only one way to find out. Desco's not going to be the last ally that's swinging something around. "Some incoming on the left, can you take them?"

> Revolution

[tyrantball]

Desco grins a little at the boosting spell and rotates to the left, her two primary tentacles snapping their jaws.

"FINAL BOSS ARISES!"

[press_start]

Ooh, that was nice. What is it like to be able to do that- Nanami wishes she could, but alas, her own Persona seems limited to one form of attack. She still isn't sure if it's because she's low-leveled or because shooting beams is basically the only thing ships like Galaga do. Time will tell, hopefully?

The swarm's more or less thinning out, probably. It doesn't seem to take much work finish them off, so Nanami doesn't see much use in wasting turncount on the many status moves she has. Oh well. Levelgrinding was just like that.

She directs the aim of her Galaga to whatever she can see on the right.

> Dream Needle

[tyrantball]

Desco floats merrily over to where Nanami is, idly cratering one of the Zombie Fairies that gets too close to her with a swipe of Kogasa.

"That was fun!"

[press_start]

"Mmm, quite." The small kick one gets out of defeating enemies never quite dies down, especially not if it's a new game you're starting.

There's a moment of silence and Nanami gets the impression that she ought to fill it with something before it stretches into awkwardness.

"Where I come from we... most of us can't really fight, so I'm impressed that you can do all of that."

She also ought to sound more excited, probably. This socializing thing is hard.

"....!"

[tyrantball]

Desco puffs up at this.

"Hmhmhmhmm! More, more! Praise Desco more!"

[press_start]

.....?

Um, okay.... the praise-seeking reminded Nanami of Saionji, almost; but Desco appeared to lack Saionji's sadistic streak. That was something to be appreciated.... ..... still. Dealing with this manner of excitability was not something Nanami was very good at.

"....I... liked that Final Boss move of yours?" Was that praise? That was a move with cool visual effect.

[tyrantball]

YES. GOOD.

"Hmhmhmhmm! Final Boss Arises is the first of Desco's three Killer Moves! They are proof of her status as the Legendary Final Boss, Queen of Evil Deeds, the Adorable Endbringer! Truly, you have good taste!"

Her tail, which has retracted down into a little stub, is a blur behind her as it wags furiously.

[press_start]

'Legendary Final Boss, Queen of Evil Deeds', huh.

At least the 'adorable' part of 'The Adorable Endbringer' made sense. This demonkid looked about four, and was wagging her tail like a dog.

"Thank you."

Well, videogames didn't have the best of logic. Real life didn't fare much better, contrary to general consensus. If Nanami once found herself with a talking bear for a principal, she had no problem just concluding that where-ever Desco was from simply had toddler demon bosses.

"You were a Legendary Final Boss? Oh, that must've been great!"

[tyrantball]

"Yes! Desco defeated Bio-Suits and Ranger-type enemies and the Justice Valkyries and her little sister, Earth's Guardian God! That is why Desco is queen of everything ever!"

[press_start]

"Must be nice." Thankfully a lot of Nanami's pauses was now being masked by Desco's enthusiasm. It was getting a little iffy coming up with proper ways to further the conversation, other than the occasional filler response which she was pretty decent at generating on the spot- "mmm, wow...!"

By the time Desco finishes listing her achievements Nanami has scripted something to say. Phew. "And what a queen you must make. Hey, does Desco want to take a break? I'm not sure, are there any places still open for players after the 13th Hour-" 24-hour shops were a thing apparently, Nanami just wasn't sure if Hinoto-Ri had any of those. "-does Desco's... queenly stamina feel like a break? Or we can keep cruising...."

[tyrantball]

A slight pause as Desco considers Nanami.

"...you're kind of bad at talking, huh?"

[press_start]

".....yeah...." That obvious, huh.

No, actually, Nanami isn't surprised.

"...you took a while to notice. Does that mean I got a bit better...?"