Marriage in Peril, Fortify the Castle, and Movies

Mon Jul 25, 2022 12:43 pm

Mission:

"Dammit all, Kaya, this is the fourth time you've gone to the bathroom since we got here!"

"I'm fine, Jer."

"You keep saying that, but this really doesn't seem to be fine!"

"Just- Jer, look, it's fine. I promise. Please let it go?"

"No, Kaya, no I won't. Somethings going on and I want to know.

". . ."

"Please, Kaya. I can tell something is up. This is our honeymoon, but there's already a secret between us."

"I'm sorry, Jer, I just... I can't. I-"

Kaya would continue talking for a period, but Jer was already walking away.

Alcohol was not something often indulged in by Emi. She had nothing particularly against it, but did not have a particular fondness for it, either.

Why she went to the stall selling alcohol at nine in the morning was not to get herself drunk, but rather to find out more about the crying man.

As Emi drew closer, she heard him ask for more. The sales person sighed and produced a poured out a clear liquid from... the faucet, before handing it to the man.

Emi was unsure if he was just requesting water over and over, or if he was already cut off.

Or if this place had a faucet for Vodka for some reason.

That would be... certainly strange.

"Something lighter but fruity", Emi said. "No lemons, though," she finished, before turning her back to the bar and leaning with both elbows placed on it.

"What's fucked up enough that you want to drown your tears at nine in the morning?" she asked the sobbing man. He seemed to take a deep breath, stabilize a bit, but probably only enough to answer.

"It's nothing, not something for you to worry over," he replied, obviously to end the conversation, but there was no heart in it. Emi guessed that he wanted to talk, but didn't want to drag anyone else into hearing his shpiel.

"I got nothing better to do right now, so don't mind lending an ear." As Emi finished her sentence, her drink was finished. She took a sip, and was smacked in the face by the taste. She liked it fine, but 'lighter' it was not. She probably wouldn't finish it.

"...Really?" he said, looking up to her, eyes red and still flooded with tears.

Emi nodded in response. "Want to go grab a table? There's one not far away I see open."

The man nodded and the two of them went off to the table, Emi leaving her drink behind.

"So that's how it is, huh?" Emi asked, after Jer finished telling his side of the story.

"Yes! She won't tell me what's wrong and I keep fearing the worst and... What if she just collapses from whatever it is and I don't know what to do be-"

"Breathe, Jer. Breathe." Jer took a deep breath before Emi continues. "I think you're overthinking it. A lot. Can we go talk to Kaya together? I need to ask her something."

"You aren't going to yell at her, are you? I feel bad enough for doing that myself."

"Nope, she'll be fine, and I've a feeling you'll both be fine."

The pair found Kaya on a bench, crying quietly. Emi noticed that she looked the tiniest bit pudgy.

Jer got her attention, but Emi motioned for him to be quiet and walked to behind Kaya to whisper in her ears. The message was short, but it brought a whole new set of emotions to Kaya's face.

"I'm s-so sorry, Jer!" she nearly screamed out. "I j-just," she was having difficulty talking through the tears.

"I just want to know what's wrong!" Jer said back, on the verge of tears himself. This was not supposed to be how their honeymoon went.

"I- Nothing's wrong I ju-"

"Please, please tell me the truth!"

"Can I speak up for a moment?" Both of them waited for Emi to speak, though Kaya kept crying, and Jer did not stray far from the edge.

"Kaya, just tell him. And Jer, don't interrupt and let her finish."

Jer took a deep breathe, and replied "Ok."

Kaya took a bit longer, and then said "Ok."

"I was going to tell you, Jer, but I wanted to wait until after the honeymoon, so we could enjoy it first! I, well I guess that didn't work out. Jer, we're going to be parents!"

730 words
Mission complete
7 stats
https://www.narutoroleplaygame.com/t47432-body-flicker-v7-2

Mission rewards
1000 ryo, 5 ap

Mon Jul 25, 2022 12:44 pm

The Sun, The Sea, and The Sand:

This was a nice place to take a vacation.

Emi had been very sceptical of the validity of this place existing, but it looks like the people weren't lying. Not only did this place exist, but it was thriving! Plenty of people seemed to be having a great time. Emi had even already changed into a one piece suit with boyshorts. It was black, but a white line traced down from her shoulder to her leg on the left side.

She thought it was quite nice, to go with the large brimmed hat and summer bag she brought with.

Maybe she would come back here at a later time with something to make some music... she already had some ideas about this place.

But that was neither here nor there. Emi was walking around the beach, watching all the people, feet just barely close enough to the water that the waves washed over them. Going for a swim WOULD be nice.

But Emi had a far more important job. She had been sent to find a seashell. This seashell was of utmost, vital importance. Her mission must be completed, or the whole world may be at risk..

This seashell had to be perfect. Emi was debating if she should bring back something more resembling a clam's shell, or if a more twisted shell would be the choice. Maybe a conch shell, if she could find one. Though she did have to consider if the shell was too large. Actually, conch shells would probably be too large.

A smaller, curly shell was called for. Yes, that would be perfect.

It was about a minute of walking before a small splash of color on the white, sandy beach caught Emi's eye. There, at the edge of a water line, was a beautiful object. Conical in shape, except for the base, it was covered by stirations of various, mostly darker, colors. Emi walked over to pick it up, and examine it closer.

She could see greys which faded into blues as she traced upwards from the base. Blues became dark and brilliant purples, which became reds, and than oranges. The thing was tipped by a return to grey, though a redish grey.

This would make the perfect shell as she began returning to the site of her mission.

As Emi approached, Sofia was almost finished. The castle was certainly a beauty. The towers perfectly matched the shape of Sofia's green bucket, and she seemed to be aging towers that had seen and survived many a great war. Emi could see where the walls of the towers were beginning to crumble. She would need to make sure the castle staff knew to fix those!

The walls were also beyond glamorous. Created directly from the moat that Sofia had hand dug, they were a mound of that would be able to withstand any sand-person invasion.

Emi smiled as Sofia saw her, and saw the shell. Emi watched as Sofia's eyes lit up and she nearly crushed the western wall in her excitement to get up and take a look.

But Emi held tight, and shook her head, walking up to the castle. It must recieve a good looking over before seashell approval could be acquired!

The tower at the center was truly the grandest of all. It was clearly painstakingly crafter by the delicate, artisanal hands of Sofia. While a foolish onlooker may see it as a lopsided, tilting pile of sand ready to tip over and fall, Emi saw it for what it really was: a defensible masterpiece where asymmetry was used to strengthen vulnerable portions.

With a nod of approval, Emi handed the shell to Sofia, who carefully put it at the top of the tallest tower. She jumped for joy, happy her creation was complete, before running back to talk with her mom. Emi have the two a wave to say goodbye and went back to walking the beach.

Today was a good day.

660 words
Mission complete
6 stats
https://www.narutoroleplaygame.com/t45846-sparks-v7 250 words
https://www.narutoroleplaygame.com/t51011-cat-eyes 250 words

Mission rewards
1000 ryo, 5 AP

Mon Jul 25, 2022 12:48 pm

Mission:

Emi was not a god of music. She had no intention to be a hall of fame artist, or even really a full time artist at all. She enjoyed making music, and there was no reason to let money get in the way of that.

At the same time, money was nice. This was her second trip to the beach, this time in a plain black hoodie (light fabric so she didn't fucking die in the heat), shorts, and a pair of huge sunglasses that, combined with the hoodie hood that was up, hid almost everything about her.

Emi also knew her way around a keyboard, a mixer, and a speaker, and had cough borrowed cough a battery that she could keep charged with a Spark every now and then. (She swore she would give it back! But also she hoped she would be able to give it back before anyone noticed it was missing...)

She was four layers in, working on second harmony, and gathering a bit of a crowd (nothing huge, just a few), when a shout interrupted her. She hadn't been playing loudly, what with this being an entirely impromptu session and possibly going to get her kicked out but...

"THIS MOVIE IS FUCKING SHIT!" screamed the unknown individual.

"No, no, no! Just read a bit further!"

"No, FUCK THIS, I'm out. Who the FUCK writes a movie like this!?"

At this point, Emi stopped adding layers, and let the first four go while most everyone in the crowd looked over at the commotion.

There was a big portion of the beach that was blocked off from use. Something about recording a movie. Emi was close (enough) to it that she had asked a guy standing around there if it was fine to play where she had set up. She'd gotten the go ahead, apparently all the recording was happening further up shore today, and they were reserving more or less a buffer zone for it.

That was fine by Emi, one fewer person to want to kick her out. What was less fine is that the girl screaming? Seemed very important to the movie. And no matter how you looked at it, someone was fucked here.

The girl threw down a bundle of papers, probably the script, before walking away from the sectioned off area. The man she was talking to, seeming a bit flustered, grabbed the bundle of papers and then began to give chase.

At this point, Emi mustered the loudest "EH HM" she could and got back to the music. She scrapped the previous second harmony and improvised a new one as the woman (who had apparently just quit) began to walk past. Emi threw some chakra at the battery to keep everything happy and, looking back on this situation later?

This is where everything would have gone wrong.

Emi was packing up, as she had been "respectfully" told to do. Thank fuck for dimension storage, it was such an oddly useful technique.

Like, she knew it was intended for storing weapons and ninja equipment. But it was also so INCREDIBLY useful for transporting music equipment. This, however, she would later realize was strike two.

Strike three was talking to the middle aged lady.

"Hey you," said a voice as Emi finished packing her supplies.

"What's up?" she responded, lifting a bag of things over her shoulder.

"I want to make you a movie star."

"Ok so you're filling in for Rakisha in these two scenes." Emi was not entirely sure why she had agreed to help. Apparently the person that ran off was the stunt actor for some movie. Sure, Emi could do the stunts fine, but... "For the first one, we need you to run across this perilous log. We'll make it look more dangerous in post, but it is too narrow for Samena to do quickly."

Emi nodded with her eyes. She had already been told off multiple times for moving her face while someone used fifty billion different brushes for more types of product than she could name, and far more makeup than she'd ever worn before.

"And after the log, I need you climb the mountain face. We will make it look more realistic later. And don't worry, you can pause between the two. We will do a camera jump and-"

At this point, Emi was feeling uncertain. All she could see was someone was whispering to the director.

"Aaaaaacctualllyyyyyyy," she started, "would you be willing to try both in one take?"

Emi was... very cautious after that question. "What do you mean one take?"

"Well," began the director. "I used the wrong word. It should not be one take, you can have a few takes if you need it. But you're a ninja! You should be fine! But we will be trying for it in one shot. The sets are close enough and we can clean up the environment in post."

Emi... really did not like this. She was already being covered in makeup to look more like the person she was supposed to represent, which meant a LOT of makeup, and it was getting somewhat uncomfortable. Now they were adding this? She was pretty sure something was wrong with this situation, but she frankly did not know about about movie filming to be certain.

Emi was fairly confident that she could manage anyways? The stunts were... Well they were not normal activities, but it would not take too much to get away with, say, a surface walking for safety, probably.

"What is this movie, anyways?" Emi asked. This prompted a somewhat disgusted look from the makeup artist. Emi was not sure if that was because of her question, or because she moved her face the teeny tiniest bit during the session. Either way, she did not like it.

In start contrast, the director seemed to positively glow after receiving the question. "I'm so glad you asked, sweetie. Shows an appreciation for the finer arts. This movie is an original piece by me, and it is simply magnificent, if I do say so myself. So the plot starts with a great evil befalling the land. An evil so great he wants to make all other evildoers look bad by comparison. So the Akadaki, being the previous worldwide evil superpower operating from the shadows, want to defeat this new evil, and reclaim their rightful place. But you see, every member of the Akadaki has a secret.

"Kisumu is supposed to be half human, half shark. But really he's just a good swimmer and strapped a plastic fin to his back and painted on fake gills with his full body makeup.

"Hoenheim is supposed to be a master artist that brings his art to life. Actually he just keeps a lot of birds in his coat and has trained them well enough to stay quiet. The clay is purely ornamental.

"Imaki is supposed to be a master of confusion with a magical red eyes. But actually he just smokes weed and is legitimately confusing and illogical.

"Kakion is supposed to be a heavy hitter with multiple bodies that can separately survive deadly attacks! Actually he's just three guys in a trenchcoat.

"Orichi is supposed to be some scientific psuedo-genius, but actually he keeps people locked up in cages and just memorizes the reports he forces them to write.

"Sasuto is supposed to be this master controller, able to manipulate dozens of bodies in a battle. Actually there are just a few dozen people that pretend to be Sasuto and, because he's always wearing full body armor with a voice changer, it doesn't matter which one is 'at the helm', so to speak.

"Kodak was a master with paper, able to control it at whim, and even being able to fold explosive tags without destroying them. Actually she's just really good at making paper airplanes and hiding explosive tags in them. Sometimes she uses smaller tags that are a bit less explodey to make the illusion hold better.

"Nagisa is supposed to be some super powerhouse that works from the shadows. Actually it's all a lie and he's a totally normal guy who took a prank too far and is afraid he'll die if he ever stops the charade."

Emi would have been open mouth aghast at this point, but the stylist was very firm in closing her mouth the first two times, so she made concious effort to keep it closed after that. This film was... it was. She was so... How could it...

How could it sound this bad. "Is it a comedy, then?" She had to know, even if it annoyed the person doing her makeup and... now dressing her hair.

She would need such a long shower after this.

The director's eyes rolled in their sockets. She seemed so exasperated. "Why does every single person I have ever talked to ask that? It makes no sense! No, it is not a comedy. It is a romance love drama and most of the Akadaki is in a love decahedron with the main villain."

Emi was literally lost for words. What the hell was she supposed to say to this person? This was, well it was not quite the worst plot she had ever heard, and a lot of the good versus bad came down to execution, but... The summary was not promising.

Emi honestly felt bad for the stunt performer now. She was probably asked to do dome shit with no warning and this atrocious plot. Wasn't she upset about the script earlier? That send a bit of a chill down Emi's spine. Did not speak well of what she was about to witness.

Emi was not sure they knew what the FUCK "In Post" meant. The log was one thing. It was, as far as she could tell, and actual log they pulled out of the ocean one day. It had that distinct "I'm driftwood but also fucking big" vibe to it. The wall she was supposed to climb on the other hand?

It was not a climbing wall, as she expected. Just... straight up a cliff face. She was supposed to run from the log and then climb the cliff all in one go. And, while this was not precisely mentioned, she had a feeling it was supposed to be all in one take, too.

Emi really did not like this movie after all. Maybe she could score a free ticket for being in it cause she didn't plan to pay to go see it.

They had not let her read the script, either, except for the little bit that describes her stunt.

Emi stood behind a fake rock, taking a runner's starting position. They had put fake sweat on her and now she was told to give it her best shot. Waiting for the clack of the action bar, Emi contemplated why she had even offered to do this. Stupid she thought as she heard the clack and began to run. Hypothetically, they were specifically avoiding filming her face, since she was not the main actor after all, but she still pulled the hoodie (that was apparently normal attire for an Akadaki member) tighter over her face as she ran at the log.

Not full speed, mind you, but enough to be fast, and she did move like running. She skidded to a stop before a section of beach covered in green fabric before looking left and right. 'Noticing' the log spanning the green, she ran for it and crossed in three large steps. Next up was the rock wall. Or rather, a totally normal cliff face. Emi had activated surface walking before the action clack had happened, so she felt fine doing this, especially when pretending to climb it normally.

She had asked earlier if these people were meant to be ninja and... Well the answer was conflicted. They were meant to be superhuman. They were "the great evil" after all.

But they could not be so strong or inhumane as to take away from the immersion??

Emi had so many questions, but she really did not want the answers to them.

The rock wall was fine. She made an effort to make it look like it was an effort to climb, going slowly, not just launching up the side and trusting surface walking to catch her. Rather she climbed mostly normally, looking for handholds as she went, and throwing in one or two sideways, slightly down jumps to new footholds.

At the top now, she dragged herself up and was met with someone at the top. He began going in for a kiss.

Emi would have punched him if they hadn't warned her about this. Someone called "CUT" and the guy held position while Emi... jumped down the cliff (it wasn't that bad going down when she didn't have to pretend to be worse than she was) and someone in a similar hoodie and makeup took her place.

That was the shoot. That was it. That was her entire job.

No wonder the other person quit. A movie this contrived isn't worth a five minute job.

Emi went find someone to pay her. She wasn't doing much but by damn she'd be paid for being an emergency fill in. Maybe she could add a nice 'ninja' fee on top of it... or just up her hourly rate.

...Everyone kept telling her to go to someone else to get paid. This was complete bullshit.

2251 words
Mission complete
22 stats
https://www.narutoroleplaygame.com/t45943-storage-displacement-v7
https://www.narutoroleplaygame.com/t45622-spirit-gun-v7
https://www.narutoroleplaygame.com/t22313-genjutsu-release and mastery no hand seals (1 -> 0, only one mastery tier)

Mission rewards
4000 ryo, 20 AP