WEEK 5, DAY 1: MISSION

[wonderful_mods]

Mission: Get with the Times.
Time Limit: Short
Noise Plane: Solo
Wall Instructions: Key walls around the Times Square. Keywalls must be cleared by presence of a pact, or by fighting noise.
Wall Rewards: Blown Kiss
Reaped Rewards: Frantic
Mission Rewards: Rare Metal

[It looks like things are back to normal, but that seems to only raise as many questions as it solves. What happened to Tatsumi Port? Why did the phones all go dead like that? And why did nobody see the GM the entire last week...?

But it's no matter. It's the start of another week of the Reaper's Game - and the mission seems the same as ever for Day 1. Now just to figure out where the mission is pointing to.]

Comments

[zebrarhyme_everytime]

[Zecora is a zebra again! Yaaaaay!]

[...except she's not happy. Truth be told, she's plodding along like a workhorse after a week of plowing the fields, barely able to lift up her head. She has the mission, she knows what she's supposed to be doing, but the zebra's will to go on has been sapped to the point of collapse.]

[emotionaldeath]

[Ryoji looks up from his fiddling with the phone when he spots Zecora. She seems a little upset, but he doesn't seem too bothered about it. He doesn't really call out her name, but he nods as she goes past, not really seeing the point in speaking.]

[zebrarhyme_everytime]

[This... isn't exactly the pick-me-up anyone might hope for, because Zecora had strongly believed that once Ryoji had become Nyx, he would return to the Game if Nyx was defeated. She is glad to see him, but not eniirely surprised.]

Hello again, Ryoji. Do tell
If you are feeling, and doing, well?

[emotionaldeath]

I'm alright, Zecora. I feel a bit strange, but I guess that should be normal for a Player.

How are you, though? Did I hurt you last week?

[zebrarhyme_everytime]

[At this point, Zecora ascribes his general lack of affect to guilt or trauma in general. Not hard to understand how he might be feeling that.]

I get by, I suppose.
I am unhurt, goodness knows.

[emotionaldeath]

[It's a good excuse for why he's acting like this. Even if he hadn't been a Player, he'd be a lot quieter. It's just strange that his emotions are silenced on the inside as well.]

I'm glad you aren't hurt.

[zebrarhyme_everytime]

I'm unharmed in many ways
Aside from staying dead a few more days.

[emotionaldeath]

Are you sure you're okay, though? You're not physically hurt, but I would understand if you were hurt emotionally.

[zebrarhyme_everytime]

It is a fact, I was prepared to act
I did what I must, had to trust
In your return through the Game, all the same.

[Though he's pretty spot on in diagnosing her, it isn't attacking Nyx that caused her pain.]

[emotionaldeath]

I understand. I didn't think it was fighting me that upset you though. You're missing your partner, right?

[Even if he wasn't too worried about it earlier, he did notice that Zecora wasn't with Sasuke. Ryoji knew they often split up, but he would have assumed that they would be meeting up with each other for at least the first day of a new week.]

[shy_kindness]

[Sometime after the mission, Fluttershy shows up. She sees that the Zebra seems... tired. They go to investigate.]

Zecora, is, um, everything okay...?

[zebrarhyme_everytime]

Oh, hello, dear Fluttershy
(And Fluttercruel, by the by).
You have wings, perhaps you two
Can find Sasuke where I cannot. Would you?

[shy_kindness]

Sasuke? Oh, I'd be happy to find him for you.

[zebrarhyme_everytime]

If you can, I'd be so glad.
I can't speak to him, a fact quite sad.

[shy_kindness]

Omigoodness! What happened to him? Did... Did he get erased...?

[zebrarhyme_everytime]

He was either taken from me
Or restored to life in the RG.
I can't believe he escaped this trap
When its bonds ever-closer wrap.

[shy_kindness]

[The Flutters don't really want to see Zecora's partner erased, so she hopes that he's in the RG.]

Oh, goodness. I can go look for him if it's okay with you.

[zebrarhyme_everytime]

If you can spot him from the air
That would relieve my care.
This city had too large a ground
For me to cover and make sure he's found.

[shy_kindness]

We'll be glad to help you search for him!

[Because she really doesn't have much else to do, given that she skilled the mission to fill back up on coffee.]

[juuichi_yosamu]

[For once, Grovyle isn't manning a key-wall. No, he's been rather jaded as of late, himself. And seeing Zecora like this...

Well, seeing Sasuke in the Realground allows Grovyle to draw his own conclusions.]

So that was your fee this week, huh...?

[zebrarhyme_everytime]

I think that I would have preferred
If a new fee was deferred.

[juuichi_yosamu]

...He was at the station last I saw him.

In the RG.

[He sighs, knowing he's either confirming her worst fears or giving her terrible news.]

Things are getting worse. This Game's a farce. People are bouncing back and forth amongst the ranks... I wonder if the Reapers would have accepted Kreutzer back without any fuss regardless of what I did...

[zebrarhyme_everytime]

[Yes. That is exactly what she expected, and it brings her no cheer to hear.]

If you see him, please convey
The good wishes I'd like to say.

[juuichi_yosamu]

Will do. You're not going to let this get the better of you, are you...?

[zebrarhyme_everytime]

What good is it to cry and moan?
At the end of the day, I'll still fight alone!

[The sharpness in her voice is uncharacteristic and more than a little bitter.]