[log] i'm hellbent baby

[kokuyoyo]

Who: Chikusa Kakimoto, and various members of his CR
What: So a bunch of teenagers and kids play some romantic visual novel games...
When: Some vague time after training
Where: Temple Li Tieguai
Notes: First of all, post order is a myth, just start out with your character playing one of the game in the top levels I've prepared below and people can react to things as they happen. Don't worry about cohesive story, just go wild with tropes. Threadjacking is fine with me, go wild. Secondly, while some characters were definitely invited (Sanada, Minako, Davesprite), if your character has CR with Chikusa or the others in any way, you're definitely welcome to jump in. Just hit me up on plurk or PM this journal, and we can BS a reason for coming... even if that reason is just party crashing. Third, feel free to make a top level for whatever if you want to do something besides playing


It is done.

Finally, at long last, Chikusa is free from the self-inflicted hell of being forced to do the whole household's chores for a week. It's been a week of pure suffering, where Hakkai hasn't let him get much relief at all, but it's finally over with. Now, at long last, he can get to all the things he actually wants and needs to do.

....But the problem, Chikusa has found, is that after a week of hard work, his brain doesn't want to get to any other kinds of hard work... even if it's hard work that he actually wants to do. His life is fucking suffering.

For a good chunk of his morning, he stares emptily up at his ceiling, wondering what he should even do... but an idea comes to him while flipping back through the BBS- his story that he's working on, to be more exact. Oh, right... He said he would look into visual novels, didn't he? And that sniper anon...

It takes a little bit to get up regardless, and then some more time to take the cupboard money so that he can go down to the Far Shore... but that's fine. That's enough time to text some people he knows while going down to the Far Shore to get the appropriate game system and games.

And thus, that's how a small group has gathered in Hakkai's living room, a bunch of games spread out on the coffee table while Chikusa finishes setting up the game system on Hakkai's shitty old television.

"So just pick whichever one you want to try, I guess... And we can figure out who plays first after."

Comments

Games

[kokuyoyo]

[Chikusa definitely seems to have gotten quite the selection... Pick one, start it up, and deal with yelling from the peanut gallery that's been assembled.]

The Last Sunflower of Summer

[kokuyoyo]

Recommended to Chikusa by a certain anon, it's a game with a lot of romance, plus interesting and tense situations. Or so it's been said...

Premise:
You're a student finishing your final year at magic college! You've just been assigned to work on a final project, along with three guys... all of whom, predictably, are love interests.

Love Interests:
Setana - A man with shaggy green hair, a flirtatious smile, and fashionable clothes. Flirty but hot tempered. Seems to be a more direct rival to Kuro.
Kuro - A man who predictably has black hair and a stoic demeanor. Aloof and arrogant, he eventually warms up under the right options. Seems to be a more direct rival to Setana.
Cervi - A man with soft brown hair and kind green eyes. He seems to be the most simply nice of the group, and a hard worker. Is there more to him than that...?

Despite the fact that those three are the obvious romantic choices, it seems like the game boasts three other routes on the box...

Note: Ginia has played a little of this game, so free to get inspiration from here and go wild.

High Stakes

[kokuyoyo]

Recommended by the same anon. He's not telling anyone why he chose either of these games, so go on wondering.

Premise:
Taking place in a stock trading company in Tokyo, you start out as a young new hire helped in by your family who got you into the job. While there's some romance, there's much more office intrigue and politics.

Love Interests:
Reiko - A woman with cute short reddish hair and purple eyes, who prefers a fun life. The MC has known her for a while before working here. She's constantly giving mixed messages on if she's interested or not. Can you deal with her fun-loving lifestyle in the office...?
Yoshii - A man with long black hair that works at the desk next to you. Never seen without his trademark shades out of the office, he seems to be utterly silent and serious. No one has apparently ever heard him talk, only gotten emails. It seems he might be your rival for that bonus...
Sayo - A woman with dark brown hair constantly pulled back in a messy bun. The MC's superior, everyone says her high rank is due to simple flirtation that lets her get away with things. But she's always been nice to the MC...
Mito - A man with slicked back hair who seems to be in charge of the department overall. He won't accept anything less than perfection in the company... and his strict personality has most of the office against him. Can you deal with him any better?
Suezo - A man with stylishly messy hair, he's the son of the president and every visit of his seems to throw the office into disarray. It's said that he takes an interest in the latest newbies, and the MC is no exception.

[reloves]

[ See, Minako didn't know when she started playing this one that this one had less romance than the other ones. So she's been cheerfully squealing along while watching the other people play the other games, but she's getting rather bored playing through this one..

When another scene full of gossipy office shenanigans happens, Minako just lets out a loud scream from where she's sitting. The whole temple can hear her primordial rage, probably. ]

When are we finally going to kiss?!?!

[kokuyoyo]

[Slowly, Chikusa lowers his hands from his ears. He sort of knew that the Sniper Anon had said this was less on romance than the Sunflower game, and maybe he should have said that when he saw Minako pick it up... But this is kind of hilarious in it's own way.]

[He is, possibly, a bad person.]

...Want me to look up a guide for you?

[The look on her face will be priceless...]

[reloves]

Chikusa..! You're my hero!

[ Minako might be - definitely just for melodramatic purposes though - a little teary-eyed as she rips her gaze away from the screen to look instead at Chikusa. She is totally unaware that he knowingly let her walk into this lack-of-romance hell. ]

Please find a guide that gives me the quickest way to a kiss..!

[kokuyoyo]

Alright...

[Let him just take out his phone and start flicking through things... In the meanwhile- ]

Which one are you going after again...?

[He might have been a little bit more amused at Minako's frustration than what she was aiming for.]

[reloves]

Suezo, of course! His hair.. It's just so beautiful..

[ And clearly that's the only reason you need to consider flirting with someone, right. Minako sure sounds like she's dreaming away about his hair right now. It's enough for her to momentarily forget her frustration about the lack of kissing action going on here. ]

Magic Mommy

[kokuyoyo]

Chikusa, where the hell...

Premise:
Congrats, you're a mother! That is to say, you're playing a mother who, after the loss of your partner, have decided to move for a change of pace along with your teenage child. And yet, the neighborhood you've moved into seems to be full of eligible women...

Love Interests:
Diane - 54 and on the schoolboard, she's a coffee enthusiast with two kids, one who's already moved out and the other who is getting ready to. Can she... out-mom you?
Kit - 37 and a firefighter, didn't you know her in college once...? She has a pair of twin girls and she's only seemed to get more attractive. Oh no. She knows yoga.
Penny - 40 and an art teacher she's exactly what you would think with a description like that. A lack of fashion sense and too many crystals is made up by the delicious food she can make.
Cleo - 65 and a- CEO? Is that right? Apparently this isn't even her only house... Despite the fact that she plays golf, she's unbelievably romantic and poetic. Who can stand up to that?
Sam - 45 and a mechanic, she has a motorcycle, which means you know she's cool. Not that anyone needed to know, since the tattoos are a dead giveaway. IS her flirting for real?
Billi - 57 and a biochemist, her face says she hates everyone. After her coffee, and it's... still like that. But perhaps time will tell if someone can warm her frosty exterior...
Babita - 50 and a lawyer, she's what people think of when they think 'wine mom'. She's almost as opulent as the CEO up there. Are there people savvy enough to get with her?

Note: yes this is based off dream daddy

[myblueskies]

[Romeo doesn't really understand any of this but he is happy to be around Chikusa and his friends and is slowly reading the cover of one of the games. It looks very different to the puzzle games that Romeo has played on his own Printendo Pri.

Still he's willing to try anything so he carefully puts in the disk and starts the game.] Does someone want to play with me?

[It seems these games have a lot of words!]

[reloves]

[ Is Romeo really old enough to play dating games...

.. well, Minako sure is not going to be the Responsible Adult here and tell him to not do it. Since she isn't an adult, for one, but also not exactly the best when it comes to telling kids what they can and can't do about 80% of the time.

So she just smiles and scoots over when Romeo calls out. ]

Do you think this one looks fun?

[myblueskies]

Hello Minako!

[Oh this is good! Minako is an expert in dating so they will be a really good team to play this game!] I think so! The box had lots of words I didn't understand though! But I think it will be fun!

[reloves]

You just tell me if there's one you don't recognize, then I'll explain it to you! [ She winks at him, a little playfully. But mostly just excited to play these dating games which were practically made for her. ]

You know I'm real good at knowing all about this kind of topic, right?

[myblueskies]

Okay! [He grins and presses the button to make it start.]

Yes you are an expert on dating so you'll be able to win all these games!

Pigeon Romance

[kokuyoyo]

Someone should probably stop Chikusa from shopping on his own.

Premise:
You are a human girl. Specifically, you are a hunter-gathered human girl. This needs to be specified, because you have been sent to attend a school for pigeons. Yes, the bird. Actual birds. That's what we're doing today.

Love Interests:
Ryoko - A rock dove. He's apparently known the MC ever since she rescued him as a chick and put him back into his nest. Definitely the childhood friend type.
Shintaro - A fan-tailed pigeon. He's not only the president of the student council, but the heir to a rich company, and a god damn snob to boot. He look down on anyone inferior to him... which is everyone.
Yuki - Another fan-tailed pigeon, which is because he's the half-brother of the other one. Confident, suave, and popular, what problems could he have?
Naoko - A mourning dove. Predictably, he's very quiet, and not particularly cheerful. In fact, he outright hides all the time in the library.
Katsuyoshi - A king quail. The homeroom teacher for your class who specializes in math, he has a bad habit of falling asleep anytime, anywhere.
Seison - A chukar partridge. As the school doctor, he has a well known reputation as being... really fucking creepy.
Aki - A luzon bleeding-heart. Yeah, he's just... That's just like that, apparently. He says he's the servant of god. So. That's a thing.

Note: Is this just Hatoful Boyfriend? IT SURE IS. play this as straight or nonsense as you desire

[kokuyoyo]

[Is Chikusa even playing this game? That's up to you to decide. But he is absolutely making direct eye contact with Davesprite as it gets started up.]

I wanted to make sure to include you.

[Also, he's pretty sure he knows for a fact that this is the kind of bullshit Davesprite is into, part bird or not.]

[redotiertwo]

[...The premise of this game sounds weirdly familiar. It's kind of a shame Hiyoko left so long ago so he can't show her this, but as it is, he's definitely not missing that Very Intentional Eye Contact here.]

Yeah, your thoughtfulness is appreciated, though I'm pretty sure I'm getting some kind of deja vu here and we should probably start playing before I think too hard about it.

[kokuyoyo]

I think that's just you being a bird...

[But whatever, let's get this started.]

You don't have a last name, right... [Because the game sure is asking for one.]

[redotiertwo]

If that was it then I'd be having deja vu literally all the time.

[And on the note of a last name...well, Davesprite's remembered by now that he had one once upon a time, but he doesn't really want to get into that can of worms.]

I feel like for the purposes of the game being picky, we can just temporarily change my name to Dave Sprite.

[What a radical change it is.]

[kokuyoyo]

Davesprite... Sprite.

[Because, yes, that's what he's putting into the name screen. He's pretty sure it's funnier that way.]

Dent De Lion

[kokuyoyo]

Compared to the other two, this is almost normal.

Premise:
You're a student who's moved out on your own to escape your complicated and harsh relationship with your mother, although her phonecalls still seem to haunt you. One day, a basket of cuddly bunnies and cats appears in your room, and you end up taking care of them... And that's before they all suddenly turn into handsome men!

Love Interests:
Ch'a - Confident and relaxed, he was a black cat before he turned into a boy with dark hair and gold eyes. Despite his flirtatious nature, he can get very jealous and overprotective.
Ra - A brown-spotted rabbit who becomes a blond boy with green eyes. A classic tsundere, he's rude, snobby, and is constantly complaining about how loud the others are.
Pyon - A silver-haired rabbit who appropriately turns into a boy with long silver hair and silver eyes. Polite and reserved, he loses this when it comes to interacting with the cat boys. Seems to serve Roe.
Roe - A small white rabbit who turns into a fairly small boy with delicate features, with orange eyes and white hair. He speaks even less than Pyon, and is very shy, hiding behind the other for everything. Apparently, he restrains his emotions a lot.
An - An orange tabby who turns into a boy with orange hair and purple eyes. While very affectionate and playful, he takes no responsibility for the messes he leaves behind.

Note: Based off of "Dandelion", another visual novel

[kokuyoyo]

At some point, the local nekomata residents get curious about just what's going on in the living room. Despite being cats, they are ones that can talk, and they're quick to demand a turn as well.

The problem comes... almost immediately, as soon as the intro telling the MC's living situation is done with and the opening animation starts to play.

The nekomata number four: Pookie the long term resident, Bloodfang who is a tabby with a messed up ear, Steeltail which is a fluffy kitty with fetching green eyes, and Bonemouth who is a sphynx cat.

Apparently they're arguing over which of the two cat interests to go after...

Anyone want to investigate further?

[reloves]

Talking cats? Clearly that's totally normal. Or.. well, it feels a little more normal to Minako than she thinks it ought to. Maybe it's just since she's already seen so many strange magical things in this place? Who knows.

But Minako still definitely can't resist cute cats, especially in combination with these fun dating games. So it doesn't take long for her to scoot over to where they're arguing with a huge smile on her face.

"Are you having trouble picking, guys?"

[kokuyoyo]

All the humans in the room means the cats are mostly ignoring whenever someone moves to get snacks. After all, there are a rather lot of them squished in here, more than usually stay in Temple Lie Tieguai (which already tends to host a lot), so there's no point in paying attention at a little bit of movement. It's when Minako directly speaks to them that their ears all perk up and they look at her.

Young and full of vigor, relatively speaking, Pookie leaps forward to answer the question. "My senior refuses to listen to my arguments in that the orange one is the most attractive to pursue! You agree, yes, that he looks much more full of energy and is an energetic partner?"

Steeltail sighs, shaking her head. "Such childish thoughts..."

[reloves]

This is so cute. Too cute. Minako loves the idea behind these games already, and the idea that these cute kitties (okay, maybe they aren't exactly normal cats, but still!!) want to have a taste of the dating game life too is just adorable. It makes her smile at them so excitedly, determined to help them out. She can be the cat mediator! It could be her!!

"Well, let's hear all of your opinions then!" She looks at Steeltail. "Are you saying you prefer the other one?"