Everything was going as expected, the café was being a huge success, just like Eris thought it would be be. After all, she dedicated a lot of her time to ensure that they would only have the best of the best for this festival. Eris was a firm believer in quality over quantity, after all. Le Soleil wasn't designed to fill people's stomach's, but to give them an experience many might never have again in their whole lives.

However, not even an hour after they had began their activities, one of the maids came and whispered some words on Eris' ear. "Why would they do it? What benefit can anyone have from lowering their prices so much right after the festival began?" Was Eris' reply. "You are suspecting they are sabotaging us, right. Well then, let us keep everything as it's now. They will soon realize that the laws of the open market apply equally to big and small economies. We are here to offer a quality service, not fill anyone's stomach with cheap fast food."

In fact, Eris, had the slight idea that whoever was footing those bills didn't knew that there was a limit to how fast someone could do their work, and how good it could be done if they went past that limit, not to say anything of limited supplies. Whoever chose to turn this from an ideological, to an economic battle would have to learn a lot how the market works. The other stands already had a world of difference from the Soleil when it came to quality and resources, burning through both at a faster rate because the demand increased manifold would surely doom them to a catastrophic failure long before the festival ended.

For Eris, Everything as going as well as it should be, if not better at this point. The only thing that could make things even better would be if... "Cassandra! You finally came, I was worried you would be sick or something like this. I'll have a break in a few, we can go see the Festival if you want to. Rumor has i that Moon Rider herself will appear on the Strykers presentation. I can't wait to look that hypocrite in the eyes and see what she has to say." Eris' voice went a bit bitter when she talked about Moon Rider, but soon enough she was back to normal as she guided Cassandra to a table. "In the meanwhile, you can ask whatever is it that you want, all on my tab. The menu has only a few types of coffee, but the crepes can come with whatever filling you want, from coconut to blueberries, we have it all. So, what will it be, Master?" Eris smiled beautifully as she joked. Who could imagine she could even do something like that?

---

^{@Flamelord, @Mega Birb, @Awesomoman64, @Lord of Evil, @Mimik, @Jedly, @Lonewolf685, @Kimiyosis, @RoflsMazoy, @TheWindel, @ReaptheMusic, @Lucius Cypher, @Ryonara, @Caits, @McFazzer.}

Maybe it was just to rub salt into the already gaping wound or to exacerbate his current affairs in what could be argued to be a masochistic manner, but much like his cyanic haired compadre Shiro too donned the attire of his DGO mirror. Not that his outfit really had any defining attributes or inflections that screamed I'm Paper Moon!!!, just a slapstick arrangement of blue jeans, a white t-shirt and a jacket the color of the midnight that commonly accompanies the moon. What is did scream was nondescript, though what did capture his IG life's temperament was the famous pair of goggles strung around orange locks, and of course the nucleus of the whole display, the face with an iconic, borderline idiotic smile. The announcement which Strawberry had broadcast across the entirety of the Black City had evidently been burned into the face of the main forums and still retained in prominence as a hot topic. This choice of action was basically the final nail on his own coffee.

While the student radiated his usual excessive amounts of jubilation, the past couple days had nibbled at the kid behind the smile. An immeasurable amount of caffeine, sugar, fruit, and after the recent onset of angst thanks to the imminent series of musical numbers, adrenaline flowed through his bloodstream culminating into a crude high that could crash at any second. But gotta live up to hopes, yeah? Which is precisely why Shiro had to hold up if Asahi, a discharge of as of two days ago, was at least making the effort to keep up a composed front. For the most part. "Sure the big man's got cold feet. We all do. Just our job to make sure we don't get frostbite and break some legs! Not actually! Well...maybe. Lel." The boy made a feigning laugh as he rubbed the back of his neck. He was on the more lawful end of the Sweeper spectrum thankfully. Shiro detached himself from a group and made his way over to the two, nearly tripping a few times along the way. He slid to a halt and instantly dove into inspecting Jiro's garbs with a whistle deposited every couple seconds. "Wow, not too shabby. Akane did a pretty good job with the outfi-ACK"

The master seamstress herself suddenly materialized by the three and dug her foot into the side of the chatterbox. Many would consider stopping Shiro from embarking on another monologue a good deed. The boy let out a faint cry in response and laid motionless, meanwhile Akane lowered her leg and cast a sideways glance to her higher-ups, hands tucked deeply into the frilly skirt of her strawberry outfit. The two should have surely observed the ravine dug deeply between her knitted brows, a result of hours spent painstakingly knitting, and as the they would soon find out, painstakingly pricking her fingers into decimation. She produced a hand coated with Hello Kitty band-aids and gave a sub-par greeting to her comrades, "Asahi. Jiro." The girl shifted her golden irises flickered over to the student in the midst of making a recovery and narrowed, as if pushing him back down. "Trash."

@Mega Birb@Lucius Cypher (Idk about roflsmazoy yet? Gonna finish this tomorrow morning.)

Masae Kanegawa

Even with the start of the festival, life remained relatively the same for one Masae Kanegawa. She had to keep better track of her time, and she was out of the apartment more, but ultimately it wasn't that different from what she did normally. If they had a tech issue they called her up, and she fixed it before the day was ruined. In return she got a couple nice perks, but beyond whatever discounts she might get for food and the like she didn't care too much. She just enjoyed the satisfaction of fixing the problem. Though getting fed never hurt either.

At the moment though she was curled up in bed, blankets pulled tight to allow her to bask in the warmth that surrounded her. She liked to think of herself as a creature that didn't need too many comforts, but she hated having to sleep in the cold. Even if their place wasn't actually that cold at night, it made her feel better.

Through the dreams of her blissful sleep came the clinking and grinding of the coffee machine, indicating that Aderyn was awake and already busy with sating her addiction. In a way, it would have been more troubling had Masae not heard it, with as much routine as it was for her roommate. Otherwise she might have thought that something was wrong, and otherwise left herself to worry about what had happened. With Aderyn's medical condition she didn't think it was an unreasonable worry.

But she tried to cling to her sleep, at least a bit more if she could. Tendrils of her dreams continued to try and lull her back into oblivion, the strange and the outright weird that she couldn't claim in real life. Something involving parkour...giant robots...explosions? Already it felt like it was fading from her mind, leaving her to grumble and shift beneath the covers as she was pulled from her pleasant hideaway.

Aderyn's call at last roused her from her sleep in the full, and she sat up before rubbing her eyes. Well, not much point in trying to fall asleep again now. She knew herself well enough to know that once she woke up, she wasn't going to get back to that state easily. Brown slippers went onto her feet as she went about getting out of bed. "It's wherever you left it," she called back as she swung her bedroom door open and walked out into the apartment proper. "I haven't touched your shampoo recently." Honestly, it was just the typical morning here, in spite of the festival.

@Mega Birb

"Ah, no. Nothing like that. I just got held up by one of my sisters. It wasn't pleasant. I'd rather not let that ruin today" Cassandra said softly, trying to keep her tone light, and not angry-the anger directed towards her sister, never towards Eris. She managed to give Eris a smile, seeming to always have one for her. Inside, Cassandra was a mess. She couldn't help her thoughts, at wondering if she was selfish. If she had abandoned her family, by moving out. If she was so far in over her head. If she wasn't a nice person, because she wouldn't move back in. She couldn't help it. She always had doubts. Sometimes it was easier to overcome doubts.

Mere moments in Eris's presence helped strengthen Cassandras resolve, and she relaxed somewhat. "Enough people are aware of your breaking away from the Strykers that they might wonder why, Moon rider might be a bit uneasy at looking like a fool. Perhaps thats why she is appearing" Cassandra said thoughtfully, her tone not forced now, but back to its usual tone.

She was a little thrown off by the 'Master" comment, and she was sure she blushed, glanced down at the menu, "Um. Maybe just a chocolate crepe?" Cassandra said "And just a small coffee? I tend to get too hyped on larger coffee" She asked, looking to Eris, thinking the whole thing was just a little weird.

"I got the drinks." Kosuke said, resting a chilled can on Akane's cheek.

On account of reflecting his in-game avatar not being feasible due to the height difference, and the fact that he had adamantly tried for a lesser role in the performance, they'd instead opted for dressing him up as if his in-game avatar had grown up somewhat. His hair was dyed blonde, and his whole fringe was parted to one side rather than being all over the place like it normally was. He was also dressed formally, in a vest and bow tie; with some added accessories to mimic his in-game clothing's aesthetic. Finally, he was holding a brown paper bag filled with cans of beverages which he had... Finessed from a certain cafe(@KoL>:D).

Machidai certainly had his uses. He had an inside contact which had owed him for a certain set of pictures, which had given Kosuke some cover when he slipped into the kitchen. Before anyone asked too much he'd made off with his bounty. It wasn't any of the stuff they were serving to the customers of course, just some of the stuff for the staff when they were on break. Unfortunately he couldn't take too many, otherwise it would've been suspicious.

"Want me to hold it for you? I feel like it'd sting if I gave it to you cold." He said to Akane, placing the other drinks down.

It was probably fine, but Akane had probably been working the hardest out of anyone in preparation for the festival. He felt kind of guilty because he was a lazy asshole, so grabbing drinks had been a little bit of retribution on his part. It was still a minor thing in the end, because it wasn't like he did it because he had balls, it was more like he just didn't really give a fuck.

"Oh, and the drinks don't leave this room, guys." He said. "Expect to be captured and interrogated by the White Guild if that happens.

---

@Jedly@Mega Birb@Lucius Cypher

Today was a very important day. First, it was Hibiki's first time doing a job for the Newspaper club. She was very nervous; while Thomas did say they could enjoy themselves, she still very jittery. She had everything she felt a good newspaper person needed: a notebook for notes, a pen for writing notes, a voice recorder to record statements, and a camera to immortalize it all in picture. She even got a new outfit to dress the part. But more important then any of that, Hibiki needed to find Itusko. She had promised her that they would spend some time at the festival together. Hibiki wanted to try all the things, especially the cultural stuff since that was what Thomas said she was suppose to review.

Hibiki had everything planned out. First, they would try the non-japanese cultural things. She knew there was one booth that was doing something German, and another was pretty American. There were a lot of Chinese places too, as well as Korean. However what Hibiki was most interested in was a few Arabic stands that she was almost certain no one would really be going too. No one ever seemed to pay them much mind, which seemed odd to Hibiki because they seemed the most interesting. And of course, once she visits all those places, she'll have to find Thomas to investigate the Black vs White cultural war. The White Guild were coming strong with their traditional Maid Cafe, something everyone looks forward to every year. But the Black Guild would be using the festival to as their debut, and there was no telling what they were up too.

Hibiki did a bit of digging around about the both of them as well. Namely, some key players in both guilds. While obviously there were Chiyo Kuroke and Yoshino Tsugumi, the leader of the Ivory Masks and the spokesperson of the Ebony Strykers respectively, Hibiki had noticed a few other big names show up. One was Eris Reinhardt, a very controversial figure in both Deep Ground and the real world. It first started when Hibiki found some gossip where she had declared war against the Sweepers after they wrote the name "Cassandra" out of dead players bodies, where she threaten to use her connections to a mercenary company to take out anyone who would harm Cassandra. More importantly, she also revealed herself as Eclipse princess, a rather powerful player who had initially joined the Ebony Strykers, only to start killing them after Corpse Collector was defeated due to the Sweepers in the Strykers. Now she's part of the Ivory Masks, and some say it was a ploy by the Ivory Masks to weaken and destabilize the Ebony Strykers since soon after she had stopped her killings, the Ebony Strykers went through their civil war. And even though her activities have been fairly quiet since she had left, it was also known that she had a hand in helping and improving the Ivory Masks maid cafe, which itself was already well above what most other festival stalls could fund.

Following up on Eris, Hibiki also tried to look into this Cassandra person. Oddly enough, despite being a target by the Sweepers and apparently someone Eris regards very closely, Hibiki wasn't able to find out much about her. Cassandra O'Shera was a child of a very large family, and has recently been seen in Eris's company, and by proxy the Ivory Masks. Of what few rumors Hibiki could find, people say that Cassandra is a strong-willed person and could be quite forceful, though seeing the girl herself Hibiki wonders if there's more to it then that. Of course Hibiki wasn't just investigating the Ivory Masks and she had some information about the Ebony Strykers as well. Namely, around the same time the Ebony Strykers opened it's doors, a girl named Retsu was seen around Yoshino. Like Cassandra, there was very little information that Hibiki found about her, aside that she has a brother named Asahi. However something about Retsu didn't sit right with Hibiki. Like Retsu was hiding something. Just seeing her made Hibiki feel like she's in danger, and she suspects that Retsu may be connected to the Sweepers and serves as the contact between them and the Ebony Strykers, collaborating with Yoshino.

In addition to Retsu, there was also Asahi, who recently gained some fame for getting shot. The biggest rumor going on around that was Asahi being a target for a botched assassination from the Sweepers, brought about from his involvement in the civil war in the Ebony Strykers. He also has a reputation for getting into fights with other trouble makers in the city and that he was a leader of his own gang, which sounds a lot like something a Sweeper would do. Of course it only made more questions why the Sweepers would be after him if he is a Sweeper, though perhaps the civil war between the Ebony Strykers were more then just a battle between the Stykers and the Sweepers, but the Sweepers amongst themselves. Aside from that, he was apparently leading the Ebony Stryker's performance. Instead of a stall or booth like other clubs or guilds, they would be hosting a show soon.

In all honesty, Hibiki didn't want to go to either guilds. The Ivory Masks felt too distant and haughty, that despite being a maid cafe it was made for a higher clientele then most of the students who go to Purple Crown. At best, it makes people feel rich. The Ebony Strykers were a wild card, and aside from her personal reasons for not wanting to go to the Ebony Stryker's show, she doubts they could really do anything considering how disorganized and underfunded they were. Unlike Eris or Chiyo, who Hibiki learned were actually very wealthy, no one from Ebony Strykers seemed particularly rich. And Hibiki wasn't so naive to believe that they could produce anything without sufficient funding. The Ivory Mask's maid cafe has always been a big attraction because a lot of money has gone into making it far better then what any normal highschooler could do with a limited budget. Even the other guilds had comparatively paltry attractions compared to the Ivory Masks, and Hibiki doubts newcomers like the Ebony Strykers would do any better.

All in all, Hibiki wished that she could just use this time to have fun with Itsuko and maybe make some more new friends. Not that she was getting bored with Itsuko, but after spending some nights playing DGO with her, Hibiki realized that she doesn't have a lot of friends to play with. By the time she came to Purple Crown even the new students already had their cliques or were part of a guild. Hibiki knew in some ways it was her own fault too, since she could easily have more friends if she just joined a guild. But her own vendetta against the Ebony Strykers made her into something like a brooding anti-hero who can't accept friends at the risk of endangering them. And that was really boring.

Sighing, Hibiki tried not to look too depressed as she waited for Itsuko. Just like she told her yesterday, Hibiki would be waiting near entrance after the ticket counter. She showed Itsuko the outfit she was going to wear, so she should be able to recognize Hibiki when she shows up. Hibiki also wondered if Huntress would be here today. She seemed like a mysterious, but good person. Huntress would be the type of character who looks and acts cool, but probably plays with dolls or still sleeps with her baby blanket. Not that Hibiki could talk, since she does that too.

@KoL

The Festival was in full swing and drew the masses flocking to Purple Crown for fun, food, and the opening fusillade in the war between factions. Beneath the charming maids and fantastical theater was a not so subtle battle for dominance that some hoped devolved into an all out food fight with molten crape batter being flung from ladle catapults, but that was neither here nor there.

In DGO, the conflict was anything but subtle. While the cities were still far from the front lines, skirmishes were near constant along the borders with an emphasis upon the dungeons which would normally be ground for their much needed EXP.

"I don't know which is more tedious. Running the same dungeon fifty times in the hope of new pants, or killing the same Ranges all damn morning. Meh, at least I get your pants guaranteed." Broker of Fortune said in regard to the brown parcel beside the downed Ranger who was missing a good deal of his armor thanks to Broker's Disassembly Ability, yet another foe defeated in Fissure City. His insistence in repeatedly trying to overwhelm her was turning into a profit for the Bruiser, who could summarily execute him with an Overhauled bullet to the head and collect free mats along with the EXP crystals-



"It's about time." Kanbaru said as she opened her menu and went straight for the Combat Armor Feat, making it harder for these increasingly unarmed Rangers to do anything against her when she reduced their damage 20%. It was a bit of a surprise this hadn't happened sooner as the brief civil war was an absolute gold mine of experience, but at least grinding gave her something to do while she let the festival pass her by. She knew that it wasn't the most patriotic thing to do, but it wasn't like Kanbaru was involved in every Blue Guild activity. Up to know she'd made a point of separating herself from them IRL by abstaining from the newspaper club, and with Bel's bizzare behavior as of late this was a sentiment slowly creeping into the Cobalt Bruisers.

Maybe I should have asked Retsu to come along and liven this up...Nah. The idea was discarded easily, as Kanbaru knew that Retsu's attachment to the Black King would ensure she remained at the festival for its duration. A bit of a bummer, though it did spare her the monotony of the grind. "Sigh. Nothing left but to get back to shootin', lootin', and grabbing up another level."

And then she could see about using all these pants to craft some more useful items...

---

The White Guild was certainly making a great impression upon the festival goers with their maid café. Hormonal young men and bicurious girls alike could flock to their in droves to witness the infamous Eris Reinhardt serve them all with a courteous smile and humble demeanor. A rather sudden reversal of her more brash behavior, and while certainly welcomed if the number of repeat customers was anything to go by, there were those who weren't ready to let bygones be bygones and enjoy things for how they were. For those who entered with a certain degree of malice twinkling in their eye, hands clenched tightly in their pockets while their nostrils flared like a bull ready to charge, they would be intercepted and treated with the very same level of poise as Eris would offer, but from a very special maid

Rufus was, after all, a member of the White Guild, so he had every right to help out the Guild in whatever way he deemed most effective, and in this case, he decided he wanted to try working as a maid. This wasn't an opportunity that sprung up all the time and novelty alone worth the attempt, certain to leave him with a story or two.

He was in the process of carrying a tray of cup cakes out the door when a hand shot out from a passing table and gave his taught rear a firm squeeze. Pausing in his stride, the maid turned with mechanical slowness to find a table occupied with jocular Scarlet Harley's known for being lady's men around the campus. They were having a good laugh at the actions of their leader, his own face twisted into what may have been a roguish smirk had his hair not been dunked in hair gel and left to sit for an hour.

There eyes met, and in the span of a few scarce moments after the laughter died down did the Harley realize that mistake he had made.

"Kyah~!" It was without a doubt the most effeminate cry of alarm Rufus had ever made, his cheeks flushing the rosy red of a maiden confronted with the filth of the world and drew the condemnation of every soul in sight. There was an unspoken moral code to look, not touch, and if they all had to abide by it then they certainly wouldn't allow some ruffians to feel up the maids without facing retribution for their actions. His ears perked at the sound of furiously sliding chairs, other customers who had already established something along the lines of brand loyalty rose to defend the honor of a poor, violated café maid whose innocence was so pure he could only blush from behind his trembling hand and thank them for removing the uncouth customers.

"Th-Thank you all very much for saving me. I...need to go freshen up a little, but I'll be back to serve all my Masters real soon!" Rufus waved goodbye to his rescuers heartily before leaving on his break with the platter of cupcakes in hand. Garbed as a maid he tended to draw the eye wherever he went until concluding his journey beside a familiar foreign boy who had the poor grace to stand beside his destination. "Excuse me for a second, Master."

Rufus stepped around Angus and lifted a cupcake off the platter, only to carefully lower into the trashbin. He repeated this for each confectionary on the tray until it was empty and held against his chest. Angus would be close enough to here his voice snap back to its common tone as the maid spoke into the trash can."Are you sure you want to stay in their all day? I'm fairly certain Eris would have made a uniform for you as well if you wanted to join us."

@Caits@KoL@TheWindel @Awesomoman64

“Ahahaha! Oh ho, you thought it was someone else, but it was me, Super Trash all along!”

The voice came directly from the trash bin Thomas and Fin had been standing next to and suddenly Dana exploded from its contents, the lid flying off to who knew where. Despite her choice in hiding places, she oddly didn’t reek of garbage; if either of them took the time to notice, they’d see that the trash can was actually empty. Had…. she emptied out the contents just for a prank?

“Oh ho, and here I find myself with two wankers doing wanking things without anyone watching. But Super Trash knows what’s up yo!” she said with a grin, shark teeth revealed and gleaming. “Ah, two star-crossed and forbidden lovers here to meet once again, it’s too much, too much! Ah, so spicy I can barely take the melting image of your yaoi holes!”

Further away from that frantic scene, Yoshino was once more busying herself to and fro. Checking things here, managing things there; despite her allegiance with the Ebony Strykers she still had an obligation as Student President to make sure every Guild had a necessary booth. Even if that meant more work for her; sighing, she looked around in her scrambling before noticing Retsu. Seeing a familiar face for once and deciding she needed a break, she walked off to meet her assistant.

In the gym, Michael paused as none other than Aaron called for him. He had been looking, admittedly, for Erika, but that journey was leading him to a big fat nowhere. Holding in a sigh, he turned to his Guild member to assess the situation, eyes flicking over to the barren gym.

“It’s probably not a good idea to advertise physical activity to a student population that spends its time playing online games,” he pointed out, tracking the arc of Aaron’s thrown pen. “Though I think an incentive is the best way to approach. Start spreading the word that whoever gets the most half-court shots get our services in the war or something,” he said. “That or free tickets to that White Guild café. Just make something up.”

Away from them not too far away was the famous White Guild café everyone was talking about for the last half hour or so. Chiyo sat in what looked like a miniature throne in a high balcony built just above the café set-up, overwatching both her Guild and the festival in its entirety. Kamen-Sama stood by her side as always and a dark grin formed on her face for.... some reason.

Below her, the Blue King was dragging Alex to every little place they could stop by, eager to try out all the stalls and booths. She had insisted they do so before the real fun began, something that she had left in vagueness but would involve the newspaper club somehow. That was the reason why she had called them all in that little spot near the trash can after all.

Not too far away, the Green King was…well, really just free-loading. And he looked annoyed as usual, scowling at anyone who even looked in his direction. Where the hell was his Guild? They were supposed to do a dunk tank! Or something. Honestly everyone kept changing their minds last minute and it was starting to piss him off.

“Oi, Chiyo! You hogging Cassandra again? She needs to be reminding that she’s in my Guild and help out here,” he yelled at the bitch on her throne, not caring who noticed the commotion. For her part, Chiyo simply shrugged and pointed downwards at her café. Cassandra was most likely loving it up with her edgelord girlfriend again. Nevermind the sound of a girly squeal cutting through the air, Chiyo treating it like a common thing of the masses.

---

Finn jumped back in surprise as the shark-toothed individual burst out of the trash, but Thomas stayed still. Whether that was from shock or composure was anyone's guess. After the individual's statement, Finn began making retching sounds of disgust but Thomas stayed silent. In lieu of speech he scanned the floor around the area and found the trash can lid, a little distance away from him. Getting up slowly, he paced over to the garbage can lid. Picking it up, Thomas cautiously approached the trash can girl and began gently pushing the lid down.
"Thomas?" Finn said, confused.
"Help me out, would you?" Thomas said.
Despite his hesitation Finn relented and joined Thomas in pushing the bin lid down in an attempt to put the girl back in the trash.
@KoL

*DING*

*SPLOOSH*

A tennis ball struck the target on the dunk tank sending the Fanged Ranger sitting inside into the green liquid below accompanied by the cheers of those around. As told by the color of the “water” it was the Green Guild who had set up the dunk tank just outside the side entrance linked to the gym. This was done so the divers could have quick access to the locker room showers since somehow it was decided to use a green sports drink rather than actual water and needless to say those who had finished their shift being dunked wanted to get the stickiness off them asap.

While every member was required to participate, however, the whole thing only took about two or three people to man it; one to collect the money and hand out balls, one to gather up the ones thrown, and the unfortunate soul sitting in the tank. This meant the rest of the guild was free to enjoy the festival until their number came up which was exactly was Angus was doing.

Wanting to get a cup of coffee before checking everything out Angus had stopped by the maid cafe that seemed to be the talk of the whole festival, and he could see why. Good food, cute girls, what wasn’t there to love?...Oh, right. Looking around Angus caught sight of Chiyo sitting atop of of the cafe overlooking all. Angus rolled his eyes before walking into the cafe itself. Why Kenji ever agreed to ally with someone like her was beyond him.

Speaking of Kneji, was that him yelling at the white king? Wasn’t he supposed to be with the others at the tank? Or was he not aware it was set up? Uh-oh. Angus whipped out his phone and shot a quick text to the person currently running the booth:

Hey, did anyone tell Kenji where we were setting up the dunk tank?

Hitting send and slipping his phone back into his pocket he stepped to the counter to order. Seeing how crowded the place was he assumed looking for a table would be a futile task and instead chose to order his coffee to go. As he handed the barista the money she gasped in alarm at something behind him. Angus turned just in time to see several patrons stand and remove a group that seemed to be causing trouble for a young male maid. Interesting. Angus wasn’t aware they had male maids, but hey more power to them.

A soft vibrate in his pocket alerted him that he had a text, no doubt the booth had replied. Grabbing his coffee he pulled out his phone reading and walking at the same time.

I don’t think we did O.O Should we text him real quick?

Great. Angus sighed in annoyance before finding a place to stop and reply. Choosing a nearby trashcan he set his coffee down and start to type back that he would handle it since he knew where the king currently was. Just before he sent the message a familiar maid walked up and started setting cupcakes in the trash. One would assume they had just gone bad, until he started talking to the trash as if it were alive.

”You, uh, alright there?” Angus asked concerned the man was having a mental break down. That is until he got a closer look at the individual. ”Wait a minute. You’re that janitor from the mall!...Please tell me that friend of yours isn’t in there is she?”

@Lonewolf685@TheWindel

Aaron plucked another pen out of the coffee cup overflowing with them while Michael berated the decision to pitch a sporting event to a digital community. The writing instrument began to twirl around his fingers at blinding speeds, showing just how much time he had wasted on a parlor trick, and was dropped purposely onto the table just as the Red King finished his suggestion for a reward. "Free throws for the loyalty it is. And didn't you come up with the idea for a basketball tournament a-" His sassing was interrupted by a loud splash from the nearby dunk tank of the Fanged Rangers, accompanied by their suitably green haired leader, Kenji Nagato glaring daggers at everyone in the area. "Y'know what? Never mind." From underneath the setup he took a large poster board, along with a black and red marker. He set to work, writing out sets of large, blood-colored letters with a hard outline and an amount of flare. A few minutes later, his labor proved fruitful as a line of various members of guilds formed and tickets began getting passed out. Tickets to both participate in and view the competition were selling like French pastries in a foreign land. Better said, they were selling like pizza to broken college students. All that aside, Aaron just had a single question left in his mind. "Where'd Emma end up, anyway?"

Soon enough, the White Guild's mainstay attraction would suffer a noticeable deficit in their profits while the queue built, along with the Green and Blue Guilds. Yesterday, the war within Deep Ground had no particular dominant force. White and Green fought Black and Blue... but what happens when you add the Red giant to one side?

---

Jiro rubbed Asahi's back in an attempt to settle whatever was afflicting him at the moment, whether it be a sort of aftershock from his wound or a bad case of nerves. Ever the showman, he gave his friend a comforting smile around the same time Shiro made his appearance. "C'mon, you're a tough guy. I've seen you make it through worse than a dance number. I mean, it was in-game, but still." He gave him a nervous chuckle and turned to his orange-haired counterpart, removing his somewhat complicated outfit from the cardboard box it was stored in. His reply was cut off before it even began by the red-haired Akane giving his friend a swift kick in the ribs, during which one could almost hear the sound of Shiro's final, defeated gasp for the hour. "Yeah, she did an amazing job on these. Never thought I would see the coat come to life!" He grabbed the collar of the white garment and flung it around his shoulders, letting his arms slide into the sleeves like a glove, the orange trim emphasizing the swish of the tail. "Don't kill Shiro... yet. We need him to dance, after all." He chuckled lightly and made an attempt to help his friend up, grasping his hand and pulling him up.

The blue-haired male dropped the guy that probably had a broken rib or two when Kosuke arrived with drinks and went on a spiel about how they shouldn't leave the room with them, lest they get waterboarded. "I would've given you some money to buy everyone some water or something. You didn't have to risk your life for it. Thanks, though." He gave the fellow Stryker a thankful nod and took a can for himself and popping the tab, taking a small sip to quench his not-so-mighty thirst. He set it down and tossed both his coats off, working himself into the costume that had been prepared for him.

---

Upon hearing that Masae hadn't, in fact, moved her shampoo, Aderyn groaned and grabbed her towel off of the rack and stepped out of the shower. She wrapped the piece of fabric around herself and stormed out of the bathroom, a little more than upset at the loss of her fruitily-scented hair product. "Last time I had it was last night when I was washing my hair! And you know where it isn't? On the counter next to the sink!" She blushed lightly when she realized she was in front of her crush in nothing but a white towel, though shrugged off the fact. The more pressing matter was the location of her hair wash... which she suddenly remembered the location of. "...Never mind, I know where it is. Can I borrow yours for today?" The Welsh girl disappeared back into the bathroom, not waiting for a response as the sound of the curtain's rings sliding on the metal pole supporting it was heard twice.

A few minutes later, she returned, now clothed in her usual non-school getup, minus the puffy jacket and headphones. She smelled of something close to lilacs as she gathered her belongings for the day ahead, namely the aforementioned jacket and phone. She gave Masae a thankful nod on her way to the kitchen for her coffee. "One of the Bruiser higher-ups wanted to meet me at the festival about something, probably trying to get me involved in that war... I might just do it, it's an XP gold mine." The pot was half-emptied into the mug and a long draw was taken from it immediately, the heat seeming to have no effect on the caffeine addict. "It's not a horrible idea, and I'll probably last longer than most out there." She smiled a bit and gave her a quick wave. "Well, best not keep her waiting." In a moment, she was out the door and heading for the main school building, in which the festival was being held.

Upon her arrival, a madhouse in the main hall was in full view. She groaned slightly and started following a path of least resistance in an effort to reach her destination; the auditorium. While it was currently occupied by the Strykers and the Bruisers, she had been promised a meeting with what was essentially an admin from her own guild. It was to take place in this general area, though she had a second reason to be here that she had almost forgot. The dance routines did need at least one techie, at least one for that matter. Masae would probably show up soon, once she was up and going, but for now the Welsh native pushed open a door to a booth in the back of the theater... which had a piece of paper with the words Bat Cave written on it taped to the outside. She moved to one side of the booth and set down her mug of coffee, then parked herself in an office chair in wait, putting her feet up on the counter.

Akane didn't even flinch in response to the numbing sensation at her cheek. She maintained the air of vexation and control to a consummate degree. Her gaze rotated to level with Kosuke's without any recognition for the height gap, and then fell unto the bag and ascended from it just as quickly. There was a brief pause to give adequate time for how Akane would react. The end result was her narrowing her eyebrows while giving the good samaritan a verbal jab, "You say that after you press a freezing can to my face?" The girl hissed. Though she was truly grateful for Kosuke practically risking his life when the White Guild was concerned, the girl just couldn't give thanks without wrangling out a morsel of struggle, "But I respect the sentiment and will take you up on that offer. There's no backing out now." A faint smile surfaced for a split moment, only to be submerged beneath the return of her former, uncompassionate expression. "Ah, yes, yours was definitely one of the more difficult to replicate. Well, I can't deny you have good taste, unlike some people..." She shot a glaze through Shiro's nondescript outfit, devoid of any noteworthy accentuation. The kind of setup one would find at a generic men's fashion store. "Though I guess referring to him as a person is giving him too much credit."

Shiro looked like he about to retort, but decided it was best to let it go, signified by a deep sigh of surrender. The kid suddenly raised an eyebrow and whirled over to face Jiro, "Wait, did you say 'yet'? Dude, I unconditionally entrusted you with my first born-Implying somebody will actually marry him~ "I KNEW YOU WERE GOING TO GO THERE DAMMIT." The student stopped himself from barreling into an exchange, knowing fully well he would lose, and inhaled deeply. "Welp, anyways, we proudly salute you Kosuke for risking your life, even with the full knowledge of the danger that is the draining sight of Eris in a maid outfit." A chill ran down Shiro's spine. The feeling could only be remedied by a chillier beverage, which he chugged in one go, "ALRIGHT! I'm invigorated all of a sudden! Holy crap, I can taste the capitalism with every drop! GJ, White Guild!" Was it kind of ironic they were quenching their thirsts with goods of the enemy? Naw. It was the enemy's blood. Now that's a perfect justification.

"N'ways, looks like everybody's about here. Don't worry if you're getting cold feet. Just go out there and break a leg! N-not really. Please. No more medical bills, we've already had too many as of late." An uneasy laugh left Shiro's lips while Akane motioned for Kosuke to offer his assistance concerning the can. She could at least hold it, but opening it was a different story. Shiro leaned over to Asahi and flashed his iconic, impish smile, "Well Asahi, buddy, pal, friendo, ready to knock the socks off of some scrubs and make DGO great again?" He gave his comrade a gentle pat and fixed his jacket, ready to not fail miserably onstage.

@Lucius Cypher@RoflsMazoy@Mega Birb

"They did what? Well, let it be, this is an important day for everyone, we mustn't sully it with petty behavior. If there's need of it, buy more at the nearest convenience store, I'll cover the expenses as well." Eris replied to the same maid from before, after she came to Eris with more secret communication. "I'll take my break after I'm done with one more errand and see the Festival with Cassandra. Is that thing I asked for ready?" Eris asked while gesturing toward some delivery boxes that laid beside the cashier.

The other maid nodded. "Yes, Miss Reinhardt, the girls worked double time to get it done as soon as possible. Should we, hmmm... dispatch it already?" The girl took a moment to contemplate something, gazing at the lustrous sheen of her shoes. Once out looked like she had chosen her words right, she scuttled closer to Eris and whispered while covering her mouth with a hand. "Are you really sure of that, Miss Reinhardt? I mean, Sun-sama usually is generous as well, but this past year things grew stranger day by day. I've never seen her like... that." The maid cast a stealth gaze at Chiyo gloating in her throne instead of being with the rest of the guild.

"I don't know her for long, but I can see what you mean. My impression of Chiyo Kuroke was a better one. However, I hope that by doing our best we can help her and more importantly, the whole of the Ivory Masks. Either way, I'll be taking these with me, you can have someone else deliver the others." Eris took two plastic bags, in a hand four boxes and on the other two thermos. However, she paused when Cassandra's order was ready and went to deliver it personally, after arranging the bags on the floor. "Here's your order, Master. Please, take your time and enjoy it."

"Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to do a delivery. After that I'll be on my break, if you want to see the stands together we can meet at the gymnasium in..." Eris paused to check her watch, ascertaining herself of the current time. "... about half an hour to forty minutes? That would be around eleven o'clock, so it shall give you plenty of time to help your own guild or do something on your own while I'm busy with guild work. Now then, please excuse me." With another bow, Eris pulled herself away from Cassandra and picked her cargo, moving swiftly through the packed corridors of the Purple Crown Academy, towards her mysterious destination, just as a few other maids left their guild's stand, carrying deliveries to other places.


Sometime later, Eris would arrive at her destination. To her surprise, she was admitted quite easily in the backstage of the Ebony Strykers and Cobalt Bruisers' presentation. Perhaps, because the first ones to get Eris' treats were the "guards", or perhaps, because there seemed to be orders from Moon Rider herself to have Eris in if she came. Frankly, that intrigued Eris but, "You don't look a gift horse in the mouth, after all" Eris shrugged, traversing the last set of corridors until...

"Good morning to all of you. I have brought a gift from the Soleil. May I set it over here?" Eris asked before setting her bags right next to the cans of stolen drinks. Despite knowing the origins of those, Eris didn't even batted an eyelash at them. She wasn't there to incite petty disputes, after all. The platinum-haired German took out the boxes and thermos, setting them besides a pack of paper cups and napkins, before opening all of them except for a smaller box which looked like it was reserved for someone, filling the cramped room with the aroma of freshly baked crepes and premium grade coffee. "Apologies for the lack of diversity, but I made sure to include the most popular flavors. There's strawberry, chocolate, whipped cream and coconut, plus coffee with both sugar and not. Please, suit yourselves." More or less around this time, the other guild sponsored stands would be getting similar deliveries from the other maids Eris sent forth, likewise all was completely for free as a demonstration of good will from the Ivory Masks, directed by Eris.

Either way, Eris was about to take the reserved box, containing two of Eris' personal favorite tropical fruits mix crepes, and go look out for Yoshino, who was the one it belonged to, when she caught sight of Akane fixing the costumes for the rest of those who probably would take up the stage. "That's some nice handcraft. The materials are lacking in quality, of course, nevertheless the couturier's skill more than makes up for it." The words of praise coming from Eris seemed to be genuine, after all, most of Purple Crown knew of her passion for fashion, which was only as big as her love of complicated things and fencing. Well, Eris really was a uniquely idiosyncratic individual, as always. "Excuse my rudeness, I do not believe the two of us have ever met. I am Eris Reinhardt. It would be a pleasure to have you visit the Fashion Club sometime, if you ever find the time and will in you." Eris extended her hand to Akane, letting out an uncharacteristically warm smile grace her refined features which were already embellished by the handcrafted maid outfit.

"Well, that should do it. I guess I'd better meet Hibiki now, before it's my next turn to be dunked, heh!" Itsuko said to herself as she stepped out of the lockers wearing a Kanzaki Motor Sports brand racing suit, with a towel draped around her shoulders. She had just took a bath, clearing the sports drink that previously dripped off her body. For once she had done her hair in a way that resembled Huntress' trademark ponytail and wore a not really flashy sports swimsuit under her clothes. After all, she was going to get soaked anyway, why should she wear more clothing that it was really necessary? If one didn't looked closely it wouldn't be hard to confound Itsuko and her DGO Avatar, the Rampaging Tiger.

"Should have convinced the King to do a cart race, instead of that. I mean, they are legal for someone our age, aren't they?" Itsuko gestured to open her interface and message Hibiki just as she exited the Gym's side door, but as she was about to press "send". "Whoa what's it that we have here? A basket contest? Might as well use the chance to get some cool prize for Hibiki, all we have on our stand are those boring camo shirts and stuff like that." Itsuko bought a ticket to take part on the Scarlet Harley's half court shot contest, without even checking which prize they were offering, more or less immediately becoming the subject of many a laugh, given her meager size.

--"Hibiki, I'm here on the Gym. Gonna pull some cool shots and get you nice present. Come here is ya can."

Itsuko messaged Hibiki while doing warmup exercises as she waited on the sidelines. When Itsuko's turn came, the current record was 05 shots in a row. Quite impressive when you consider that the guy who did it looked like he was about to faint from an asthma attack after doing the last shot. Almost everyone bet that Itsuko would get even one shot, but as soon as Itsuko let out the top of suit hang down to her waist, showing off the, now slightly sweaty, result of her bone breaking workout, quite a few went silent and... "Five, Six, Seven and... Eight," as soon as the shots began adding up, quite a few gave up. However, Itsuko still wanted to make sure she would get the best prize for Hibiki, she thought about a thing, taking the ball and slowly walking the the opposite side of the court, with a confident grin on her lips that wouldn't be out of place on her avatar, she turned to Michael and Aaron. "Hey, Boss Man and other guy, if I score a full court shot, will ya give that prize to me? I gotta get a cool present to my friend and this competition is the best form me, after all. Heh!"

"Oh man, that's the stuff! Prez and the others don't know what they are missing, it's not everyday that you get takoyaki this good so cheap. I wonder what those guys are doing? Probably this won't pay even for the ingredients they used." Emma muttered while stuffing herself of the typical Osakan dish, dipped in a generous amount of kind of overly salted soy sauce and herbs. "Either way, I'm supposed to get this job done and go back to the Guild stand to help BB and Nixon. Lemme see, I was supposed to link up with Hibiki and go look over the stands. Well, maybe I can kill two birds with a stone, let us see."

Emma walked around until she finally spotted Hibiki waiting by the gates, looking like she was waiting for someone. "Heya! Waiting for someone, Hibiki?" Emma came out of Hibiki's blind spot, silent like a ninja --or maybe the whole noise of the Festival covered her-- and offered one of the extra dumpling she had to the younger reporter. "Wanna one? Don't worry about money, they are super cheap and super good, I got more than enough here with me." In fact, that was quite true, as Emma illustrated by pointing to a bag with like six or so more takoyaki sticks, neatly wrapped in tin foil, dripping with a mouth watering mix of sauce and oil. "By the way, do you have somewhere you wanna go first? We were supposed to look over the stands. I did some surveying, and everything looks more or less like the same, except that the Gym has like three, or better four, Guilds sharing it for their presentations. That should be a good place to start, right?" Emma took another bite of her treat, chewing slowly as she waited for Hibiki's reply.

"Chaos, chaos, chaos, everywhere I look it's just chaos. What is Bel-sama thinking with those orders she issued? That will cost us a fortune, I have to find her and... and... do something about this." Yuuno walked distressed through the, otherwise brimming with life and joy, school grounds of Purple Crown, heading to the only place she could think of finding Maribel, to try and put a stop at the self destructive orders the Blue King had been issuing to the Cobalt Bruisers as well as part of the school council through the past week or so.

So distressed was she with the state of disarray of the Bruisers and the school council that Yuuno didn't even remembered the dance presentation they were supposed to do in a few hours even as she barged in the backstage, seeking her leader. "Has anyone here seen Tita, I mean, Bel-sa... ma? What's up here, huh?" Yuuno's train of thought was derailed by both the smell of the Soleil's sweets and crossing Asahi's gaze, which was when Yuuno's face lit up as she finally recalled it. "Oh, Goroshi-kun? Do-don't you say that the presentation was supposed to be... today?" Yuuno asked, though the answer was obvious, if she only dared to run her gaze through the room.

---

^{@Flamelord, @Mega Birb, @Awesomoman64, @Lord of Evil, @Mimik, @Jedly, @Lonewolf685, @Kimiyosis, @RoflsMazoy, @TheWindel, @ReaptheMusic, @Lucius Cypher, @Ryonara, @Caits, @McFazzer.}

Masae Kanegawa

If it wasn't so early in the morning, Masae probably would have been more put off by Aderyn suddenly appearing in front of her in nothing but a towel. As it stood she rubbed her eyes while listening to that angry tone, not expecting that it would have been such a big deal. But that was mornings for you, and really it wasn't too surprising where Aderyn was concerned, if only because the noise seemed to indicate that she hadn't had her coffee yet.

"Well then," she replied as Aderyn suddenly remembered where her shampoo was and returned to the bathroom. "...Sure, I guess," he called as her roommate asked to use her shampoo at the same time. It seemed she didn't have much choice in the end, but she didn't mind really so long as Aderyn didn't use all of her shampoo this one time.

While she was busy with that Masae moved into the kitchen, ignoring the coffee as she went about preparing her breakfast for the morning ahead. Eggs, sausage, there was nothing that bad about it. Soon enough Aderyn joined her, partaking of her coffee at the same time as she gathered her stuff to head out for the day. Masae didn't look like she was in quite the same hurry as her roommate was, that was clear.

"Alright, sounds good to me," she confirmed as Aderyn told her that she would be meeting with someone from her DGO guild. That earned an internal smirk at the same time, matched with a sigh from her at the news. So much for the war not being that big of a deal, huh? But she didn't mind that much, that was just how Aderyn worked and she didn't hold it against her. The fact that it distracted from their promise to play DGO together only helped as well. "Have fun."

She ended up leaving the apartment some time after Aderyn did, and headed towards Purple Crown Academy to get to work. At least her schedule was lax enough to allow for this, and yet she didn't waste time lollygagging along the way. Passing by some girls at the front gate, she headed to go drop her stuff off in her locker for safe storage before getting to work. This was definitely going to be a busy day for her.

@Mega Birb

Well, alright then. Looks like we just got a box of f**king 7 up like jeez.

Kosuke had the urge to blat the silver haired girl on the head with a karate chop but knowing the Reinhart family it was likely they had snipers waiting outside for such an eventuality. She'd disturbed something daaaarn good just now too, and it wasn't like he could do anything about it.

"This was kind of a bad time, you know..." He said, grabbing an empty plastic cup from a nearby table.

He cracked open the can in his hand and poured it out, handing the cup over to Akane while before chugging the rest in one big gulp. If one looked closely they could see a hint of shade under his eyes. He had been more than a little nervous as a social recluse suddenly being forced to do this, after all.

"I know I certainly don't want food in my stomach right now, unless I wanted the audience to see some pink vomit." He said.

---

@KoL@Jedly@Mega Birb@Lucius Cypher

Cassandra watched Eris move about, feeling better for the simple...time of taking out to do so. And yet, Cassandra still felt guilty for everything her sister said. It made her...sad. Weary. And annoyed. She looked down at her hands as soon as Eris had dropped off what she had ordered, pondering things a moment. She drew in a slow breath, and sipped her drink. Cassandra knew that there were a few important choices she had to make. She knew that family was important, but she couldn't let herself be pushed down by them...she missed her parents. She wanted to be able to do something great, and figure out how to ease their burdens. They deserved that.

Sighing, she finished off her drink, and after another moment, she left, knowing she needed to make an appearance to the Green King at least, but not terribly excited at his prospect of a guild event. She approached carefully, and just as carefully, Cassandra choice her words. "I'm sorry for my tardiness sir, however I'd rather not get wet...at least by a dunk tank!" that last bit slipped out, and Cassie's eyes widened slightly. Where had that bradiness come from? It wasn't the fact about getting wet that she minded, it was that the wet clothes tended to be...revealing, and while Cassie was slowly adjusting to being more...outgoing, she didn't quite want to be so much on display.

"perhaps there is something else I can do?"

As he was fretting, the rest of Asahi’s crew came to offer him words of encouragement. They seemed quite understanding of his stress, trying to relieve his worries with positive feels and humor. It worked, somewhat. Shiro was being silly again and getting the brunt end of Akane’s tsundere rampage. Kosuke was being both a bum and a thug when he sent out one of his underlings to swipe White Guild drinks, despite the fact that there are plenty of other shops around they could borrow drinks from. And of course Jiro generally being the voice of reason among this ragtag group of adventurers. It reminded Asahi that he needs to be casual about this. Chill out, have fun, and don’t try too hard. Otherwise he’d just get frantic and paranoid.

”Jeez… You guys are idiots…” Asahi said with a playful smirk. He took one of the flitched cans and drank from it. Unlike the others, Asahi wouldn’t be dressed up in a costume, partly because he kept the identity of Arms Slave a secret, mostly because he lacked the physic to actually pull off the four-armed monster man look. But he did have another role to play, and as the Sweeper’s unofficial leader, he would be at the head of the pack, sort to speak.

”Yeah, I guess I’m kinda jittery. Just a lot going on, ya know? Dancing with my crew at a party is one thing, but we’ve never put on a performance like this before. It’s like… the expectation is bigger.” Finishing his soda Asahi tossed it into the trash, having it rebound off three different things before landing into the recycling bin. He took a bottle of water to calm his nerves. ”Of course, I’m more worried about myself screwing up. I know you guys have put a lot of work these past few days, so I have no doubts that you’ll do a great job! Otherwises, ha ha ha…. I’ll have to kill you.” Asahi said with genuine sarcasm. He was only somewhat serious given the importance of this performance, but at worse he’ll just give one of these guys a beating if they really fuck up.

Of course, things wouldn’t be so simply as butterflies on his stomach. It was a double-whammy of girls: Yuuno and Eris, of all people. Yuuno came in looking for the Blue King, only to suddenly realize that today was the day they were suppose to be performing. They had less than an hour before it was time, though they roughly had a few more minutes since the Ebony Strykers would be the first to perform. ”Yeah. Festival only happens today, Kurogami-san. Are you and your guild ready?” Hypothetical; if Yuuno didn’t know it was today, then she likely didn’t know. Asahi would have to think quick, and he had an idea. But first, to deal with Eris.

She had brought snacks for the guild. Asahi was immediately distrustful knowing Eris’s reputation with the Sweepers and the Ebony Strykers. He wouldn’t put it past her to had poisoned any of this stuff. Fortunately Asahi had helped himself to a variety of festival snack foods before arriving, so he wasn’t particularly hungry. ”Well well well. Never thought I’d see Eclipse Princess with the likes of us. To what do we owe the pleasure?” Eris was likely one of those types of girls who were sweet on the outside and psycho inside, so Asahi was taking a serious risk trying to prod her for answers. He didn’t want to look unfriendly if she did come for benign reasons, but no sense in taking a risk if she’s as vindictive as he suspects. He also took a glance out of the window to see if he could catch the glimpse of any snipers she might have placed around here as an intimidation tactic.

---

Retsu was just on her way to the White Guild’s cafe when she spotted Yoshino in her peripheral. Given her determined walk towards her, Retsu smirked and looked at the student president. ”Well well well. Never thought I’d see the student president take time off to enjoy the festival.” Retsu could imagine that Yoshino needed someone reliable to help her deal with all this extra work everyone had offloaded onto her. Busy work like this was more up her alley then singing and dancing on a stage. The fact that Moon Rider might have to do it herself did make Retsu slightly more interested in the idea. ”Or maybe not. So, what can I do for you, Tsugumi-san? Business, or pleasure?”

There was a moments concern that Dana may have been ignoring him from within the can, despite the generous offering of free cupcakes, but Rufus could rest easy when he heard a bombastic declaration of Yaoi love from the trash bin off to his right. He was amused to find that Dana had ambushed two boys confessing their undying love for doggy style, only to wind up silenced for trying to oust them from the closet. Their families must truly be tyrannical if they had to put so much effort into silencing the truth from coming out.

"Hmm?" Before he could rescue the shark toothed girl from being hurled into a trash compactor, the very same boy whose drink mysteriously disappeared was now beside him, inquiring as to the location of the Super Trash. After a curt cough to clear his throat, Rufus once again adopted his shy maid voice while he worked to recover the deposited cupcakes. "You are mistaken, Master. I have never been employed as a janitor at the mall you speak. I'm just a simple maid working to the bone at a café filled with horny young men and woman who want to bend us all over their tables."

Rufus reached into his blouse and pulled out a flier for the White Suns maid cafe, despite having no bust with which to hold said flier, and presented it to Angus after he finished loading his tray. "Please come and see us when you get the chance, Master. We'll be waiting."

Without even answering Angus' original question the boy in the maid outfit spun on his heel and hurried over to the trash can he should have been using. Coming across two boys pressing down upon a lid that rattled from Dana's attempts to free herself, Rufus calmly tapped Finn and Thomas on the shoulder and addressed them with the same demure voice.

"Excuse me, Masters. I know you want to keep your love secret, but you have my friend trapped in their and I would really like her back. Could you please let her go? I promise that she won't speak a word of this to your parents."

Of course, one didn't need to speak to start churning out Thomas x Finn fanart all over the Purple Crown message boards.

@Lord of Evil @TheWindel @Awesomoman64

---

Festivals weren't just for the students who created them, but also their parents and the local community as well. Considering this city was more or less built around Purple Crown, this was a very large affair and attracted people from far and wide.

Two such people came from the other side of the world to see this day, a mother and daughter enjoying the sights and sounds unfamiliar in their day to day lives. The eldest had already been in the city for a month now for a rather lucrative security job, though now was taking the day off to show her recently arrived youngest daughter around the city. Her arm rested snugly around her daughter's shoulders and kept the two inseparable through the throngs of festival goers, parting briefly to stop at a stand or two.

Her gaze would sweep over the clusters of students and hope to catch a glimpse of a shark toothed blonde or the white haired daughter who seemed to have finally found her place at Purple Crown, but had found neither hide nor hair of either. There hadn't even been a sighting of her employer here yet, which was rather odd considering her children were prolific students of Purple Crown. With little to do but shrug away her concerns and hope to meet them later, Hildr turned to look at the girl who barely rose to chest height beside her.

"Are you enjoying the festival, Eins?"

@KoL

---

The Broker of Fortune paused in her ceaseless grind to level five and mass theft of weapons, armor, and comfy pants to question whether Aderyn checked her email and find that Broker has sent her a message rescheduling their meeting till after the festival.

Then she stopped questioning things and returned to the grind.

@Mega Birb

Angus raised an eyebrow at the maid’s answer, ”What are ye talking about? I remember you very clearly mopping the floors at the mall next to the drink thief. Speaking of, is she or is she not-” before he could finish a commotion nearby involving two boys putting a lid on super trash can caught in attention. ”Dear god she really was in a trash can.” Angus buried his face in the palm of his hand. Where did these two come from?

To make things stranger, the male maid pulled a flyer out of his blouse and promptly handed it to the very confused boy. ”Actually, I was just here.” Angus bent down to pick up his coffee and show it to Rufus only to find him halfway to Dana and the other two. Letting out a long sigh Angus stuffed the flyer into his back pocket and headed the other way to see Kenji. He took one step before a thought occurred to him. Turning back to trash can his eyes darted back and forth making sure no one was looking before he reached into the trash and grabbed two of the cupcakes Rufus had placed there before taking off to Kenji once again.

He found the Green King talking to Cassandra. Man, he was running into everyone from the mall wasn’t he? ”Hey, Cass. Kenj. How’re you two doing? Cupcake?” He held out both cupcakes, one in his hand the other balanced on his coffee cup, and offered them to the two. ”Oh, Kenj. I don’t know if anyone told you but we got the dunk tank set up and going just outside the gym. I know it’s not the original location but we figured it would be best to be closer to the showers since that sports drink idea somehow passed the votes.”

@Lonewolf685@TheWindel@Caits

Thomas calmly considered his options as the bin's contents thrashed under his grip. He could let the trash girl go, to no foreseeable benefit (although no foreseeable cost either), or he could not bother and gain catharsis, at the expense of his standing with a stranger. Although considering his apparent current standing, he was sure he could let that slide. So Thomas made his decision.

"Finn, get me some duct tape." Thomas said.
"You know, Thomas, I don't think that-" Finn began.
"I'm not seeing any duct tape..."
Finn looked at Rufus and back at Thomas and decided to get the duct tape.
"You can have her back as soon as I'm done." Thomas said to Rufus, holding down the struggling bin. "Because it won't be my problem anymore."

Finn returned soon enough with a black roll of duct tape, from a nearby cardboard box. Thomas made him hold the bin down while he tore off strips of it and taped the lid down. With the bin surprise now reduced to a rattling can, Thomas's job was done.
"Right then, I'm done caring." Thomas said, a note of satisfaction in his voice.
He threw the roll of duct tape over his shoulder and Finn fumbled to catch it.
"Let's go in, Finn. Better get this over with fast, we don't know how long it'll take to look at the black guild." Thomas said.
"Wait a second, will ya?" Finn said.
He rushed to replace the duct tape and went to follow Thomas into the white guild cafe.
@Lonewolf685 and probably @KoL