Scene Listing || Scene Schedule || Scene Schedule RSS
Owner Pose
Tomoe SAO Earth North America

The Region near the Dark Lady's Castle.

Some months have passed since the end of the Dark Lady Quest chain, Deidra Longwing has asked those involved to the quest chain to come to the tavern she's left Bolt and the Mage to run the Tavern tonight and is in the private lounge which she's had reserved for the night.

She's there dressed ins fairly casual clothing and Tomoe's already there as well, everyone who'd been on the dark general quest would find they have a new quest to come here in their log with several ?????? Rewards listed after the quest text.

When everyone arrives they will find Deidra andTomoe talking and it really does look like they could be sister's it's quite uncanny.
Yuuki Konno     This wouldn't be the first time Yuuki's returned to the SAO portion of America that houses the Dark Lady's castle, or even the first time she's returned to the tavern. She still wears her 'dark ninja' outfit in the area, but she lets her hair free and doesn't cover her face. She seems to like the ninja outfit (and it's rather cute really), though not to the point of closing herself away from others unnecessarily. "Hi everyone!" she calls out, beaming brightly. "Do you have the new quest too?!" she asks, obviously eager to do something. This quest line may have been kind of miserable but it's still a quest! And when it comes down to it, Yuuki still treats this more as a game than a matter of life and death.
Orchid      Two nights ago had been... a rather bad night for one Orchid. She was involved in a fight, and wound up breaking several important things. So when she arrives in the lounge in question is is without her usual armor, rather wearing a set of soft leather pants, with matching jacket. Fairly casual stuff, but it should hold up to tromping around. Also of note is that she's wearing normal boots, not the mobility-boosting dash-boots she normally wears.

     Also of possible interest are the contents of the satchel she has slung over one shoulder. Canvas on the outside, inside are the crystalline remains of the prison that secured Tomoe to the dragon's head. Also inside are five or so of Orchid's signature spider-drones.

     "Had I known 'evil aesthetics' were on the list of options, I might have gone for something tighter fitting, at least," she comments, arriving just after Josuke. "Alexis, Josuke, good to see you again. Tomoe, Deidra, hello hello. And should I acknowledge the ninja?" she asks, waving to Yuuki.
Staren     Staren arrives dressed not as a mad artificer, but looking like any other local fairy hero; Those who've been active long enough might recognize it as the armor his ALO avatar used to wear, back when Sugou was holding people to experiment on. With his magitech flight system also imitating the look of Cait Sith wings, Staren could be mistaken for an augma user; at least until a fight starts and the heavy weaponry comes out.

    "Hey." To Deidra he says, "Glad to see you're doing well." and then he addresses Tomoe: "so, what did the new quest turn out to be about? Did you finish it, or is this new quest we've got unrelated?"
Josuke Higashikata Josuke can't do the whole 'dark priest' thing now, and he really doesn't intend to -- he was never evil to begin with, but the quest dictated that he had to pretend. So this time he's going in his typical outfit, his dark-colored school uniform with the lapel pins. It might be one of the few times Deidra's seen him not looking like something that would swoop down and rain fire and death.

Of course, when he arrives he does look quite flummoxed by the resemblance between Deidra and Tomoe. He'd seen both of them before, but with them in close quarters like this, the resmblance is unmistakeable. "Wow... you really do look a lot alike," he comments, as he heads over to where they're both sitting. Though then he offers a friendly wave at the two, and at the arriving Maaka.

Yuuki's question gets a nod, and he guesses, "Yeah. We probably all do." He also greets Orchid and Staren as well, with a bright smile and wave. He goes quiet though, as she question of 'what' is asked. It was what he was wondering too, so he doesn't repeat the question, just listens.
Tomoe Tomoe looks up as people start to enter the room and waves, Deidra pauses for a moment and looks at STaren. "Thank you and there is something I need to talk to you about." Tomoe looks to Staren and shakes her head, "No, not yet, we have been waiting for the rest of you."

She'll take a bite of food though and seem to enjoy it. She'll then look to Orchid and tilts her head for a moment smirking. "I have my drops too I'm in no rush to put them to use, yet. Though might get some ideas if we can corner Liz and or Thero for forging."

She notes to Orchid. Then comes Yuuki she'll move to offer the Imp a platter of what might be something akin to chicken wings, either way, it smells good. Yuuki is a close friend but somedays she wonders about her survival instinct if she even /came/ with one.

Des also gets a wave out of and at the sight of Josuke gets a big old grin from Tomoe.

"It is something that I wonder about Sir Higashikata."

Notes Deidra and tomoe alsot hinks about it for a moment.

"Well sit down get some food and we cna find out what she has to say."

Deidra looks to the group for a moment and frowns a bit.

"I...have had memories I have memories of some of you like Josuke, fighting you...I do not know why but I fear what the answer might be. I recall Tomoe, and every time I see her it's like seeing a part of myself..."

The Quest log will update to hear Deidra's story.
Yuuki Konno     Yuuki has a survival instinct, but it's only good for a few minutes at a time. She's terribly burned out on long-term issues, and just doesn't think about them as much as possible. Short term, she's far more interested in having fun. And chicken wings. Yes, chicken wings are important to living!

    Yuuki perches attentively, paying attention to Deidra's story. "You two could be twins!" she says, with a certain melancholy note to the words. She had a twin after all, with due emphasis on 'had'. The melancholy note goes away though as she continues. "Do you remember fighting with me?" she asks cheerfully. She doesn't remember fighting Deidra, but then she doesn't remember the others fighting her either. Well okay, Yuuki kind of kidnapped the girl in the middle of a battle, but that wasn't *fighting* exactly! They were just fighting the heroes and Yuuki needed something 'evil' to do while the heroes were ignoring her!

    
Staren     "To me?" Staren's surprised to hear Dierdra say that.

    "Memories of... fighting us? But aren't you a barmaid?"

    To whoever's taking orders, he just asks for a 'surprise me, nothing too messy though.'
Orchid      Orchid nods at the various greetings, then sits down to listen to Deidra's story. She may in fact be taking internal notes. The spider that just climbed onto the table certainly is, with a little notepad and sharpie.
Josuke Higashikata Josuke will sit down and order food as Tomoe suggests, and then settles down to listen as Deidra starts to talk. The mention of having memories of fighting with them... that gets that thoughtful pout again. "...Really? I don't think we ever fought. But..." He looks to Tomoe, still thoughtful, and chews at his bottom lip uncertainly. Could it be? Might Deidra have... surely not... But for now he leaves his suspicions unsaid, since he isn't completely sure, and doesn't have enough evidence to just blurt out a possibility...
Tomoe Misty Punchfist is working the order she'll nods to Staren once and duck out, though if anyone checked the menu mysterious Fried Tofu was on it. Which Staren mysterious gets a side of along with baked fish of some sort and fries. As for Yuuki? Deidra looks to her.

"It's not clear but I do. Miss Zekken."

Josuke meanwhile speaks she looks at Josuke and almost seem to cringe for half a moment. She's not afraid but she's remembering something and goes silent on that one.

Tomoe looks to Deidra and moves to set her hand on Deidra's shoulder now.

"Easy Deidra..."

"I remember the pain and wondering why did I have to be like they why couldn't I have people...that cared about me like that."

Deidra's almost seeming in a trance now. Josuke may be on to something here.
Josuke Higashikata Josuke blinks, noticing Deidra going into this little trance. "...Maybe that's it," he speaks up then. He suggests, "Maybe the Dark Lady is... part of Deidra? Maybe when Tomoe stumbled into the quest, she only took PART of the Dark Lady personality. The rest might have just formed into Deidra. And of course she'd look like Tomoe, because... well, at the time, Tomoe WAS the Dark Lady. Maybe Tomoe got the 'evil' part, and Deidra became the rest?"

Maaaaaybe Josuke's jumping the gun a little here, but he's heard of -- and SEEN -- weirder.
Orchid      Orchid meets Josuke's eyes across the table, having similar thoughts to him. "Tomoe... Did you ever figure out WHY you wound up as the Dark Queen? As in, how you fell into the open role?"
Staren     FISH. Staren's reaction upon seeing that is quite positive, though he samples everything brought to him.

    His ears remain focused on Deidra, though. "So you think perhaps it was a past life... and that your dying wish led to your current incarnation, and events? Interesting."

    He doesn't say: And extremely troubling, if CARDINAL is a god that seeks to grant its own NPCs wishes...
Yuuki Konno     Yuuki's a little lost here, but that may be more due to her digging messily into chicken wings than any actual problem in comprehension. Still it does seem like maybe Deidra is some sort of ... channel to the Dark Lady. Or to Tomoe, or to Tomoe the Dark Lady or something like that. She frowns, grease dripping, but she's been brought up well. She wipes the juices off with a cloth rather than with her sleeve, or rather than just carrying on like a total barbarian. Never mind she's eating with her fingers like a total barbarian! That's just expediency.

    She looks at Josuke, then quickly over to Orchid. After a moment she clears her throat. She doesn't speak though. Maybe she just ate too fast! She points instead, nodding to the two, then points at Deidra. Then Tomoe. Answer!
Tomoe Tomoe Says "I have had a long standing idea as to why I ended up in the role and it's likely my own fault. When the castle first showed up I went in alone, thinking I could handle it on my own and the boss had no form but a poession mechanic and it took Josuke's abilities to free me of it."

Staren is wise to have a concern about it though the idea it could be Cardinal saw it as a way to make a better story too. It's all about making content in the end.

Deidra seems to snap out of it a bit she looks confused for a moment.

"It's hard to take it I can't recall things too clearly...but...if I was then wouldn't this make all of this my fault?!"

Tomoe pauses for a moment now looking concerned and thinking.

"This may be it..."
Yuuki Konno     "It's not your fault!" Yuuki insists automatically, but not insincerely. "Hey, Cardinal just does things, okay? You're as much a victim of it as Tomoe is." she says, looking between the twins. It doesn't really occur to the imp ninja girl that Deidra was probably *created* for this role. In Yuuki's mind, the NPCs are people. The real NPCs anyways, not the ones who repeat single lines of dialog.
Staren     "No." Staren answers flatly, immediately. "It's CARDINAL's fault. You made a quite reasonable wish. You had no input on how it was granted... and no awareness even that a wish-granting entity was listening, let alone that it might grant your desire in a way that could harm others. What happened is entirely CARDINAL's responsibility."
Josuke Higashikata "I wouldn't say it was your 'fault'," Josuke notes. "More that, you may have been a product of whatever did this." However, he's quick to add, firmly, "Don't let that make you think of yourself any less, though. You are definitely who you are, no matter how you came about." He... might have a bit of a hangup about that himself, though his situation certainly isn't the same.

"So... I guess what was supposed to happen is, a full party was supposed to enter, one of the party members was supposed to get possessed, and the others were supposed to fight them," Josuke surmises. "They were supposed to get possessed, end up merging with the dragon, and then the rest of the party was supposed to fight the dragon, free their party member, and THAT'S how the quest chain was supposed to resolve itself? And because it didn't work that way, Cardinal had to come up with a different way to resolve the quest?"
Orchid      "No, I wouldn't say you were at fault," Orchid says to Deidra. "You have memories, but they are the memories of a different person, not the person you are now." The reploid takes a deep breath, and continues. "I'll also say that it is unfair that you are burdened by this guilt, but we are all burdened with something unfair, so you can join the club."
Kirito     "There's not enough information here." States a weary-exasperated young man who's been somehow lurking near the bar all this time. "But this quest reminds me of those stories where beating something means taking its place. You don't see that a lot these days."
Tomoe Deidra stops for a moment she's clearly paying attention to things NPCs normally over look but given how she might have been made? It's hard to tell either way she does stop for a moment she looks at Yuuki intently for a moment then comes Staren, and for once Staren does seem to have a calming effect on someone. Yuuki and Stsren are both agreeing this gets Tomoe to just gape for a moment there.

Josuke puts forth a pretty good theroy on how things might have gone down.

"I think it could Josuke."

Tomoe looks to Deidra and says "I don't know what to say to a lot of this but ... if it helps I forgive you."
Staren     "I don't, because there's nothing to forgive." Staren states, plainly, and takes a bite of his food, chewing.

    After he swallows, he asks, "What did you want to talk to me about, specifically?"
Orchid      Orchid smiles. Prospects are looking good for Deidra's psychological health. As for the future... "I think I heard something mentioned about a 'breadcrumb quest?' That is to say, something that leads us to the next area where there are things worth doing," she says, trying to give Deidra time to recover.
Josuke Higashikata Josuke may go over there and try to hug Deidra. He's never been really what one would call restrained where his emotions are concerned -- unusual for a Japanese kid maybe (since so many seem obssessed with being "cool" -- which ends up being cold and rude to people, honestly). But Deidra seems to need some kind of reassurance, so Josuke's going to try to reassure her. Others have offered words, now he offers actions.

But that IS a concern. He nods to Orchid's words. "That's true... where do we all go from here?" he wonders. Will they need to put Deidra back together? Will she turn into the Dark Lady herself?
Tomoe Deidra "I wanted to talk to you about that toi see if I was going mad and it's a comfort to know I'm not crazy." She then gets hugged by Josuke and honestly she really needed it. She hugs back for a moment then smiles a little bit.

"Thank you, I was afraid I was going mad. Then I was afraid Something else would go wrong."

She thinks for a moment.

"I'll give you the book I found this legend in I hope it will be useful to you in the future. Your also always welcome at my Inn, the castle has gone intacive and the people of the near by town have been getting bolder some travelers came to the tavern eariler today."

She'll take the book off a shelf and set it down on a table to the party.

Then the quest log will ding clear, everyone who had the quest will find in a neat little pacakge if they are not an aguma user that had a more formal version of their dark general costume, and a version in white titled general redeemed.

Tomoe meanwhile finds her outfit auto changing into a white version of the Dark Lady's armour with thankfully this time white under suit of some sort of cloth or leather like Material.

"Oh you have got to be kidding me...."
Staren     And their reward is clothes.

    Staren looks inside the boxes. "Huh."

    Beat.

    Staren shakes his head. "I don't understand CARDINAL at all..."
Orchid      Orchid is not a full Aguma user, but she's made some minor tweaks, giving her access to some of the UI elements. So when the package appears she can open a window behind her eyes and see what the outfits will look like. She pauses, and smothers a giggle. But there's an odd look on her face as she does the smothering.
Josuke Higashikata Josuke nods to Deidra's words. "I felt like that for a while too," he notes. "Not about this, though. It was something else. But I do know how that feels, to think you're going crazy," he assures. He nods at the mention of the book, and -- it's really not clear if he can see the quest marker dinging cleared or not, but he definitely sees the digital 'teleport' effect with the package that the stuff is in.

His outfit was a typical 'Dark Priest' outfit -- black, hooded robes with black wings, and a few skulls and pointy objects that looked like he'd stolen it from that necromancer character in that really over-the-top super gory fighting game. The white version, which he inspects, looks a lot different. The black is of course white with this one, and the skulls have been replaced with gold hearts.

"...Not bad," Josuke decides.