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A few minutes after the taxi drops Theresa off at my house, I find myself the recipient of an especially cheerful text from Irene, complete with a selfie of her hugging a very embarrassed-looking Theresa. While feeling pretty damned good about myself, I lean back in my seat and turn to Charlotte.

"So..." I glance out the window, "what exactly did you have planned for the rest of the day?" I ask. "Since I'm just kinda tagging along."
"Nothing in particular," Charlotte shrugs. "I was just going to go to the mall for a while and then wing it from there."
"You think Mina would still want to hang out?"
"Eh?"
"Well I kind of messed up your plans with her," I shrug, "and I've kind of been missing her myself."

I haven't seen her since we left school on Friday and I didn't even bother to call her up yesterday... sometimes I feel like a really crappy friend.

"Might as well call her," Charlotte replies. "And if we're lucky, she hasn't already made other plans."


>see if the mina wants to do mall things
>see if the mina wants to hang out at charlotte's place
>see if the mina wants to do other things

>>43800178
>>see if the mina wants to do mall things

>>43800178
>see if the mina wants to do other things

How about doing the revolutionary - and asking her what SHE wants to do? If that doesn't work we can just fall back to the mall plan.

>>43800178
>see if the mina wants to do mall things

>>43800178
>see if the mina wants to do mall things

>>43800178
>>43800412
This is good.

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>writing

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Humming one of the songs from that go-kart game that I played with Gabrielle, Charlotte shoots Mina a quick text asking her if she still wanted to hang out today.

"That was quick," Charlotte says as her phone goes off a few seconds after the text is sent.
"She's okay with it?" I ask.
"Yup," Charlotte replies. "Says she'd just left when I texted her."
"Cool."
"So..." she starts typing some more, "the only issue now is where we should meet her. Was there somewhere that you wanted to go in particular?" she asks.
"Umm..." I think about it for a few seconds. "I dunno, the mall? Or if there's somewhere else that you wanted to go, I'm cool with that too."

As someone who's tagging along, I don't really think that I ought to be too pushy as to where we go.

"The mall..." Charlotte nods. "They have a fast food place, right?"
"Umm, yeah?" I reply. "Why, you're hungry?"
"I'm kind of craving some junk food," she replies with an embarrassed smile. "Burgers and fries, that kind of thing."
"Heh."

How uncharacteristic of her.

"So the mall it is!" she says while typing some more. "Do you think Mina would want us to pick us up? Or should we just meet her there?"


>invite the mina on a magic taxi ride
>meet up at yon mall-type place

>>43801378
>>invite the mina on a magic taxi ride

>>43801378
>invite the mina on a magic taxi ride

>>43801378
>invite the mina on a magic taxi ride

>>43801378
>invite the mina on a magic taxi ride

>Humming one of the songs from that go-kart game that I played with Gabrielle

Cute.

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No more distractions aside from giant cookie baking so hopefully the next post won't take as long.


>writing

>>43801378
No vote, seems too trivial.

So anyone have any fan theories about what's going on with "Faceless"? The ask.fm question answered today more or less confirmed my guess that he has a similar mindwipe power to Theresa, but that his affects only a short period of time of those immediately around him (and thus is not a targeted effect).

Ugh.

I say "no more distractions" and then my sister comes in and bug me for an hour. Sorry.

>>43802196
lock the doors
shutter the windows
put them on ignore
report them to mods

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"No sense in not picking her up," I say. "And I doubt she'd complain about not having to walk all the way there."
"That's what I was thinking," Charlotte replies.

And so, Charlotte sends Mina another text asking her to wait for us to come and get her. I feel kind of sorry for the cabbie that we're dragging him all over the place, but then I remember that he's actually getting more money on account of our indecision and then I just feel dumb.

Fortunately, it doesn't take too long to find Mina.


>[1/?]

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>>43802285

"Long time no see, Charlotte," Mina says as she enters the taxi.
"Really," Charlotte sighs. "Sorry for not calling you up once I was back, but a lot was going on and-"
"Like this one right here?"

With a big stupid grin on her face, Mina pokes me right on the middle of my forehead.

"She likes to brag to me sometimes about how much of a perv she is, so I can only guess what you had to deal with."

God damn it why does she have to make things weird.


>[2/3]

>>43802340
>[3/3]

"So aside from the obvious," Mina says while continuing to grin at me, "what've you two been up to? I know Cecile stole you for a while but you never said what exactly for."

Charlotte was already blushing pretty hard from Mina's talk of implied lewdness, but now she looks really nervous on top of that.

"Er," she grimaces, "I'll leave it to Cecile to explain what we were doing."


>how much do I tell her (if anything)?

>>43802464
>>how much do I tell her (if anything)?
Oh great, now she puts us on the spot. The answer of course will be
hi-mi-tsu

>>43802464
Nothing outright at this moment, say something along the lines of,
>"Maybe over lunch or something, it's a long story"

>>43802464
>Some quick investigating into one of the burned buildings. We were keeping the group small to better avoid notice. Theresa because it was her idea and she can keep three people hidden. Charlotte because she has some neat senses and knows rich-people stuff. And Cecile because she is the MC.

>Briefly lament we didn’t bring the one thing we found. Knowing our luck Mina will see enough of that in the future, though. (So please don’t feel left out!)

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>writing

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Of course she'd pick right now to put me on the spot. I'm going to have to get back at you for this, Charlotte.

"It's a long story," I say. "Maybe we can talk about it over lunch."
"Hmm..." Mina stares right into my eyes. "I guess I'm willing to put it off for now. And since you didn't start blushing, I can assume that it wasn't something dirty."

Depends on how you lewd you consider handholding to be, I guess.


>[1/?]

>>43802871

One more-or-less pleasant taxi ride later, the three of us find ourselves at the mall. I haven't been here in a long while... I think it hasn't been since that day Gabrielle gave me her old game console thingy.

"At the mall with my friends," Mina says with a long sigh. "it almost feels like things're back to normal."
"If only," I grumble. "At least Charlotte's back to her old self."
"Don't forget about your parents being in town," Charlotte chimes in.
"What!?" Mina gasps. "for real!?"

Mina stares at me in disbelief and I suddenly feel like a total ass.


>[2/?]

>>43802993


"Umm, yeah..." I say, smiling awkwardly. "They showed up on Easter and I guess they'll be here for a little while?"
"Dammit Cecile, you know I love your parents!" she groans.

I find myself berated with nagging and insults and a few actual light punches all the way to the food court. And much to my dismay, Mina doesn't let up until we reach the register and place our orders.

And of course Charlotte pays for everything since she's the best girlfriend ever.


>[3/?]

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>>43803050
>[4/4]

"Umm, wow," Mina says, staring in awe at the tray of like seven double cheeseburgers that's sitting in front of Charlotte. You must really be hungry."
"I haven't had a chance to eat these in almost a month," Charlotte replies. "You've never had cravings before?"
"Not like that," she laughs. "No wonder you and Cecile ended up hooking up, you're both gluttons."
"Hey," I interject. "My order was perfectly reasonable and ladylike."

It's just a thing of ten chicken nuggets and some fries. You can't even call that gluttonous!


>serious business
>spaghetti talk

>>43803084
>>serious business

>>43803084
>spaghetti talk

>>43803084
>>serious business
>>spaghetti talk
why not both.jpg

>>43803084
>>serious business

>>43803084
>serious business

Seems like we should get her in the loop ASAP. At the very least she can be prepared without actually needing to help, or if worse comes to worst we may have to call her in.

After she's well aware of the situation then we can tease her about her GF or whatever.

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>writing

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"So now we're eating," Mina says.
"Yeah," I nod.
"And you said that we'd go over whatever the hell you two were up to over lunch."
"...oh yeah," I mumble.

So much for happy lunch times with my girlfriend and my best friend.

"This one is all yours," Charlotte says, just before starting on her fourth burger.

As annoying as it is, I guess this is as good a time as any to get Mina into the loop about the most recent Branch crap that's been happening.


>tell her about fire investigations
>tell her about faceless
>tell her about both

>>43803290
>tell her about both

>>43803290
>tell her about both

>>43803290
>>tell her about both
Only tell her that Theresa has a nemesis. Let her fill Mina in on the details regarding that nemesis.

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>writing

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"Yeah, yeah," I groan.

After looking around to make sure that nobody's trying to listen in on us, I tell Mina about the mansion fire, Theresa being there, and pretty much everything short of her kite rival's assumed name. And with every new detail I tell her about, Mina gets angrier and angrier.

"I'mma kick her ass," Mina growls as she brings out her phone. "I'mma chew her out and then I'm kicking her ass."

Mina tries to scroll to Theresa's entry on her phone, but her hand turns into its armored version midway and she quickly moves to hide it from prying eyes.


>try to get her to calm down
>don't interfere with her calling the theresa and ruining her day

>>43803459
>try to get her to calm down

Randomly armoring up is definitely a sign she's too angry.

>>43803459
>try to get her to calm down
Please, at least let her and Irene have their time together. Chew her out this evening instead.

>>43803459
>>try to get her to calm down

>>43803459
>try to get her to calm down

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>writing

>>43803459
>try to get her to calm down
I knew the Theresa was being secret again! I’m not even feeling guilty about busting her this time. Anyway, better for Mina not to scream about this in a public place.

>>43803550
Why is poorfag idol a sweet potato?

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"Hey hey hey hey hey..." I throw up my hands. "Remember, we're in the middle of a public place and this isn't the best place to be flipping out."
"........." Mina takes a deep breath and dissipates the armor on her hand. "I'm still gonna kick her ass though."

Mina starts to go for her phone again but I block it with both of my hands.

"I know you're pissed at her," I say as she glares at me, "but Theresa's in the middle of doing stuff with Irene and I'd really appreciate it if you could maybe hold off until later tonight to chew her out? Please?"

I turn to Charlotte for some assistance in calming Mina down, but the only thing I get is a raised eyebrow and a shrug while she continues to eat.


>[1/?]

>>43803627
>[2/2]

"...FINE," Mina growls. "But only because I don't want to ruin Irene's day."
"Thanks," I say, leaning back in my chair as all the tension I was feeling dissipates in an instant.

Mina's always had kind of a temper... which is probably one of the reasons why her and Theresa broke up in the first place. But even so, it's still kind of a shock to see her flipping out this bad about the whole Faceless thing.


>time to address the anger problems
>time to switch to a more pleasant subject

>>43803659
>time to address the anger problems

>>43803659
>>time to address the anger problems
anger management!

>>43803659
>At least she got help this time. As long as she does I (CC) am fine with her doing some light heroing.

>Simply getting angry at her will just make her keep it a secret from you. You know that, right?

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>writing

>>43803748
>that pic
Fuckin' saved

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"At least she got help this time," I say, "instead of trying to handle all this by herself."
"Yeah, and now you two are involved in this shit," Mina says while angrily tearing a bite of her burger. "Remember what happened the last time this happened? That vampire bitch took control of that light sword guy who that businessman and attacked you and Irene and then -I- got..."

Trying her best to calm herself, Mina takes a couple of deep breaths.

"Oh, so -that's- what has you so angry," Charlotte says, having just finished off the last of her burgers.
"The vampire thing," I mumble.

Crap, that's right. Mina got kidnapped and mindcontrolled as an indirect result of Theresa's messing with that one business guy.


>[1/?]

>>43803795
>[2/2]

"Yeah, and I still get nightmares about that shit," Mina says. "You don't even fucking know..."
"If it helps any," Charlotte says, "I made sure that she won't be doing what she did to you to anyone else."
"Yeah, and Cecile said you could've been stuck as a monster forever because of it," she replies. "Trouble just FINDS you," Mina points at me, "but Theresa actively goes looking for it and then it bites everyone else in the ass. I just want her to fucking stop before someone get killed."

While I don't really have -too- much of a problem with Theresa playing heroic thief, I can definitely understand why Mina wouldn't feel the same way.

"And this new guy," Mina says, "what if his power is some kind of full-on ghost thing and he can possess people? What then?"
"Well that wouldn't be an issue for Theresa herself," Charlotte replies with a shrug.
"Maybe not, but what if he tries to go for Cecile because Theresa went and pissed him off? Or Irene? Shit, what if he went for Allison or their parents?"


>how do I respond?

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>>43801378
>"Do you think Mina would want us to pick us up?
>us to pick us up

>>43803858
I would... I mean... I...
>start tearing up at the thought of Allison and our parents dead because of some angry branch user
I'd never let my family get hurt

>>43803858
>Well, that'd be pretty terrible, but i guess that's why we don't usually involve them in things like this. Though it is still a bit risky...

>>43803858
I don't think he can possess people.

>>43803858
>how do I respond?
The mystery arsonist at least hasn’t killed anyone yet, so he probably won’t do anything too terrible. Also, he is easily mistaken for Theresa, which might lead to quite a lot of trouble down the line if she doesn’t take care of it. If you hate people Theresa pissed off going after us, you probably won’t want people a random guy pissed off looking for us.

>I still get what you mean, though. [eh… everything I try to write here turns into generic mush. Something something wouldn’t know how to deal with being possessed and fighting family/lover. Wouldn’t feel right for those same bad people killing others though if we could have prevented it.]

>>43803874
I didn’t mention that because it was already too late. Don’t bully the turtle.

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>>43803911
>it was already too late
That is why I mentioned it.

>>43803858
Sic the Irene on the Theresa. It'll either destroy their relationship (Char is happy she doesn't have to see Irene anymore) or fix the problem (everyone is happy except Theresa).

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>>43803929

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>>43803919
You're a monster.


>writing

>>43803858
>Technically this guy was here before Theresa found him, and he still hasn't found her.

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>>43803952

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For a few seconds, I consider the possibility of my family getting targeted again. And it makes me sick to my stomach.

"I wouldn't let that happen," I say. "And Irene's there too, she'd know in a second if someone snuck in my house."
"You say that, but..." Mina looks off into the distance.

the devil may have a point

but cowering before a potential threat is pure foolishness

not even you are enough of an idiot to falter before one who you have yet to even confront

The evil voice in my head is right for once. I can't be letting my emotions take over when it comes to this, I need to be logical.

"This mystery arsonist hasn't actually -killed- anyone," I say. "He's set a bunch of houses on fire but nobody's died from it."
"This is true," Charlotte nods.
"And there's no evidence yet that he can possess people."
"You've already gone up against a werewolf and a vampire," Mina says. "A ghost isn't much of a stretch."
"Maybe not," Charlotte replies, "but if it comes to it then I'll just take care of this thief in the same way I did those other two."

Some especially dumb part of me wants to make a joke about a witch hunting monsters, but I have enough tact not to actually say it out loud.


>[1/?]

>>43803943
Best girl.

>>43804025
Yet worst voice

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>>43804033

>>43804059
>>what's this about your father?

>Even my father would
laughing duck dog

>>43804059
>what's this about your father?
He gets a bad rep for other peoples actions being attributed to him?

>>43804023
>[2/2]


"And, well..." I sigh, "It seems like the main reason why Theresa's so gung-ho about this one is that it doesn't seem to be too hard to mistake him for her. I mean, -I- thought she'd been spotted when the news lady gave the description of a 'masked guy in white formalwear.'"
"I have to admit that I did too," Charlotte says. "And it's bad enough having people seeking revenge against Theresa without also having people mistakenly blaming her for arson. Even my father wouldn't have an easy time making that issue go away."


>what's this about your father?
>I kind of have an idea of what she's talking about

>>43804059
>Even my father would have an easy time making that issue go away.
Is there supposed to be a "not" there? Anyway, his wife died in a fire and that serial arsonist was the reason Mr Gauthier [sp?] entered the vast world of magic.

>>43804086
…Stupid captcha distracted me enough to not even include my vote in the post:

>I have an idea and won’t say anything as it is not relevant to the discussion at hand and seems potentially sensitive. (Still curious and not at all unhappy if Mina were to ask.)

>>43804081
>>what's this about your father?

>>43804078
>>I kind of have an idea of what she's talking about

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>writing

"Umm, what's this about your father?" I ask, turning to Charlotte.
"Er-" she smiles a most pained smile. "I was just saying that Mr. Gauthier resolved the situation that Theresa was caught up in with those contractors, but clearing up suspicions of arson would be much harder to do."
"......wait," Mina furrows her brow. "So when the president of that company had a nervous breakdown over someone committing suicide in his office..."

Charlotte simply shrugs in response. To this day, I have no idea how she can be so nonchalant about talk of murder and that type of thing.

"He said that he owed Theresa for everything that she's done for me so he decided to take the heat off of her himself," Charlotte says matter-of-factly. "Please don't get the wrong idea, that wasn't the kind of thing that was going to end any way other than through violence."

Uh, wow. I knew someone died but I didn't know that Charlotte's father was the one who did it. And since Gabrielle wasn't going on about him being in town, I guess he must've done it through his Branch?


>[1/?]

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>>43804211
>[2/2]


"It's fine," Mina sighs. "It's not like I can blame him."
"He'd be happy to hear that," Charlotte replies. "I know he'd like to meet all of you eventually..."

Charlotte takes a long sip of her drink and clears her throat.

"B- but my original point was that it's no good if Theresa gets mistaken for that idiot who's setting fires and stealing things," Charlotte days. "So we either deal with him now or wait until it gets ugly."
"Ugh..." Mina groans. "Fine, whatever. If you're all so dead-set on helping Theresa then I won't try to stop her from being retarded."


>ask about relationship stuff
>ask about branch stuff
>enough talking, it's time to go goofing off in the mall

>>43804264
>>ask about relationship stuff
Sooooooo.... how is it? Innuendo mode engage.

>>43804264
>ask about relationship stuff

>>43804264
>ask about relationship stuff

It's pretty late so I'll be ending the thread here. This was another one with seemingly minor stuff that will affect future events.

The next thread will be on Sunday night.


and now questions

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>>43804328
Who is best idoru and why is it Nico

>>43804328
Is there any end in sight for this quest? It works pretty well as a perpetual slice-of-life story with occasional bursts of violent mystery solving a spaghetti -related incidents, so I don’t see any clear potential cut-off point. Unless someone settles down or CC dies, of course.

>>43804351
Nico best idol after Mystia!

>>43804328
Thanks for running

>>43804328
Does anyone have any idea how many branch people there are in CC's town at the time?

>>43804328
Why is Irene's sister such a bitch and did she also get her powers from a Gardener like Irene?

>>43804328
Will we figure out who is making all those books? Wasn't shutting down that operation one of the original goals?

>>43804351
>Who is best idoru and why is it Nico
Iori is best idoru.

>>43804355
>Is there any end in sight for this quest? It works pretty well as a perpetual slice-of-life story with occasional bursts of violent mystery solving a spaghetti -related incidents, so I don’t see any clear potential cut-off point. Unless someone settles down or CC dies, of course.
While it is true that I could keep this thing running indefinitely, I've always had a set end in mind when writing this.
There are a couple of chapters to go after this point but the story's progressed enough that I could feasibly throw the endboss into the next chapter and kill it early if I got fed up with things.

>>43804373
>Does anyone have any idea how many branch people there are in CC's town at the time?
Nope, and it's pretty much impossible for anyone to have a clear answer to that aside from Lorelei.

>>43804382
>Why is Irene's sister such a bitch
She has her reasons.

>and did she also get her powers from a Gardener like Irene?
Yup, it was Lorelei.

>>43804402
>Will we figure out who is making all those books?
Not in this quest, no.

>Wasn't shutting down that operation one of the original goals?
The operation's since been shut down but the Tree of Life has yet to catch the people responsible.
or find out how the hell they were even able to make the books in the first place


And now I pass out. Thanks for playing!

For further questioning:
http://maouzenigame.tumblr.com/

Game production blog:
https://studioarchelon.wordpress.com/

>>43804416
>While it is true that I could keep this thing running indefinitely, I've always had a set end in mind when writing this.
Curious. I wouldn’t mind this story instead just going on a prolonged hiatus and coming back after a year or two.

Thank you for writing!

>>43804416
>Yup, it was Lorelei.
Nice

>>43804416
Oh god

Lorelei was Irene's ex, wasn't she?

>>43807119
I'm guessing that too.
I'll ask the turtle on his tumblr.