[OOC] The Midnight Train to Nowhere

[Thundercat]

Oh noooo D: not anonymoose, I'm legitimately sad about this.

Unofficial ending, Lesley and Amiel runaway together ;-;

[Crescendo]

Anon noooo D8 Gonna miss Lesles so much now Marti has no more besties left </3

I'm going to try and post tonight, but due to the karaoke night tonight I might not be able to :'c

Now I'm super sad Anon why ; ;

[Ryver et Rhine]

T-T Nooooo! This is too sad. Who will be there to support Ace in cheering all of us up?

[Kimchi]

Whatthefuhh... why airyone leave? UGH! Lesles will be missed TTOTT

I'm about to head to bed without posting again D: Sorreh. Will poost tomorrow after school. I promise! I would rather put up a quality post than poopy puke. Yeah. NIGHTY!

[John]

Goodbye Anon and Lesley ;-; and with you all well with your real life things that have to be dealt with.

@IC:

Everyone in the beach room is so precious.

Harpurr please be ok.

What do we do with IC Lesley?

Also did Ran just.

[MUG]

Holy smokes, that hurts knowing Anon is gone. Hopefully whatever is going on in his life isn't too serious. Wishing him all the best. And sorry guys but my post will more than likely now come tomorrow morning. I tried to figure out a way to continue the whole beach scene but I'm drawing a blank right now and I don't want to just make a reaction post again. I'll sleep on it and try to figure out a way to expand on the whole thing.

[Ryver et Rhine]

Yup! The big one is coming. <.< Yay for lactose intolerance.

However I kinda sent him to Martini's room.

[Fox of Spades]

Hey guys, I have some good news :)!

Managed to chat with Anon. I asked him if he'd like to take a break instead of leave, and he seemed to like the idea. That way when real life calms down he can hop back in and join us. It'd be a shame to see him and Lesley go, I'll give you an update when he responds. *Crosses fingers* Definitely hoping he chooses a break over the alternative.

No worries Kimchi and MUG ^^ and have fun with your Karaoke night Kraken. Like I said, all is cool as long as we get a heads up. You guys have till Thursday night before we officially end this interlude :) also good mornight, how are you all doing? I hope the duskdawn has been kind to everyone and good luck to everyone with school, work, or whatever it is you guys have on your plates.

[Orpheus]

News flash: I may not be able to post for this round since my PolSci class got shifted again, and my last class ends pretty late. Sorry OTL

[MUG]

Finally got mine up there folks. Since I haven't done my relationship builders for the time skip and all that yet I was wondering again when those were going to be needed? I could probably get those in by tonight in all reality.

[Fox of Spades]

No worries Kei-chan ^^ and I was hoping you guys could put that up before chappy 5. That way we can start with stronger relationships. ALSOOO, Anon decided to stay :D! He'll be taking a break for a bit though. Good luck with everything, Anon!

[AkiBlue]

Oh thank goodness.


Don't scare us like that Anon...

[Anonymous]

Aha sorry about that. After I sent Fox my leave message I immediately regretted. I'm glad that temporary leaves are accepted :) Will be back in a week or two?

Sorry about the false sadness there (°◇°;)

[Thundercat]

Anon is here to stay, hooray!

[Kimchi]

EHRMAHGERD YUSHHH Anon I kewl you for making me have a heart attack ASDFGHJKL!!!

Jasper Relations with...

Harper: They will continue to grow the relationship they already have to become even closer. Since they have natural commonalities pertaining to personalities, they are a good support system for each other both mentally and emotionally. Jasper will definitely be attempting to cheer him up along with Ace and maybe even going on that awkward-explaining-the-kiss talk? (-//3\\-)

Riley: Because of Riley's upbeat and talkative nature, I can see Jasper's tendencies to stray away from that, but she'll eventually warm up to it and feel a little bit more comfortable around the "yappy" girl. I can see Riley dragging her along in wild adventures in the castle.

Leila: The two of them are both pretty quiet for the most part so I think it'll be more of a struggle to form a strong bond between the two, but I can imagine that they can have wordless conversations as well such using expressions alone> (Lulz i dunno. I nominate Avocado to storm one for dis - 3-)

Ace: Since day one, Jasper has found comfort in Ace's protective tendencies over her and considers the girl a true friend and one she can turn to in times of trouble. Jasper plans on trying to get the red-head to open about her personal life a bit more since she mostly sees her as an upbeat person with underlying sadness. Jasper also wonders how she grows such big boobs, may one day ask for boob growing tips? *is trampled by Llamas*

Lesley: Aside from Lesley being her protector, she will at one point apologize to Lesley about the puking incident and will hopefully grow closer once more. I can see Lesley offering her some fashion sense, maybe tricks on how to take care of long hair, and even a lesson on how to flirt with men? lmfao XD

Inadi: Jasper's already developed a crush on Inadi and the two will most likely continue to develop their relationship through conversations and awkward moments. Then one day they'll go on a stroll and discuss their relationship which ends with the two pf them agreeing on a date. I have collaborated with MUG on where this should go and dating is the current status.

Momma-Ran: If the Jasadi ship sails, I can guarantee that Jasper will turn to this guy for advice more than once! (^0^)/

Toby: I agree with the back story sharing thing. I think through that mutual past, they will be able to connect to each other on an emotional level and become good friends. He can counter negative attitude with his positive ones which makes for a good balancer.

Song: She already considers Song a big bro so she's all around pretty comfortable in his presence. Like Momma-Ran, I can see Jasper turning to him for guy advice as well. Muqueque >:D

Brandy: I cal for a tea/coffee teaching lesson. Enjoy a nice chat and sipping sesh over their newly acquired tea/coffee making skills?

Martini: From both Lesley and Marti, I think she can acquire dressing tips from both and maybe get forced into a fashion show of some sort down the road? The dome scene during the witch definitely brought them closer and she sees the mermaid as a sisterly figure because of it.

[John]

So um.

eh

in no particular order.

LOST SOULS

Harper
A book-friends relationship seems to be overwhelmingly likely to be built up given some time for interaction. Leila already has grown quite interested in the boy's character through the last chapter or so, and definitely already cares about him more or less. Harper will probably be the first person she's willing to open up to, so that helps.

Discussed these in a brief skype conversation with Fox:

The two of them looking at stars and comming up with constellations. Harper sharing stories from mythology and Leila enjoys listening to them but being slightly irritated by unlikely chains of events and overwhelming scientific inaccuracies that she'll slowly learn not to make a fuss over under some circumstances. Leila will still be excited about math things and Harper tolerates her fangirling when she talks about those things to him. And books. Probably lots of books.

It's generally agreed that conversations will largely be based around common interests other than personal details.

Not sure if this should develop as a mutual friends relationship or have a sibling-ish tone to it, since Harper's devotion to pretecting everyone's safety so far has led to Leila perceiving more of an older brother figure from him, and it's also mentioned in Fox's Time Skip Discussion post earlier that "wanting to let Leila have a friend" was a factor in trying to approach her, which potentially implies that the protective and worried vibe is much more significant on his side and less on hers, where Leila would be gravitating towards Harper probably out of the simple reason that she enjoys being around him.

When the happy chapters are over and things plummet into the darkness before the eventual ending you know who to hurt if you want to break Leila ok

Riley
The devious side of Riley would likely be an important factor in the relationship, and while Leila is intimidated by that now, it'll probably be through her Leila learns a little sense of humour (I don't see her taking up any of the bad puns though).

The whole 'Dragon Tamer' misunderstanding, with Riley mistaking Leila to be courageous and Leila mistaking Riley to be some kind of Sherlock Holmes was a lot of fun to write, but I think it could be agreed on this one that it ought to be cleared up soon in order for an actual meaningful relationship beyong just the admiration and respect towards each other that is largely based upon inaccurate impressions.

I don't see any disappointment in the "never meet your heroes" sense: given the characteristics of both individuals, the best case scenario in which they accept their mistakes and easily adjust their perceptions and subsequently develop a grounded friendship as who they actually are, is actually likely enough to be favourable.

The dragging around is bound to continue either way.

Inadi
Still intimidated.

He seems to be the protector type like Harper, yet is considered that much less approachable. Leila really doesn't know a lot abot him just yet, though, so a lot of impressions may be wrong. This will be one of the people Leila would be hesitant in reaching out towards at first, so it seems that interaction will be much passive on her side and where it goes largely depends on how Inadi behaves around her when they next get to converse.

Your call on this one.

Jasper
All the blood and tears from the first patch. They can be pessimistic together

Actually, though, I think the analytic side of Leila might be of a bit of benefit to their interaction: perhaps helpful information given on grounded facts would actually work better than the generic "it's gonna be ok keep calm" statement when Jasper goes into one of those lapses of loosing hope or motivation.

Leila will learn from Jasper, once Jasper has the chance to reveal these things, many things about emotion and attatchment. I'm obviously speaking about Jasper's experience of having had to deal with the loss of a loved one and the struggles of everyday life, both aspects in which Leila has little experience. That process might invovlve them finding things hard to relate to and later gradually working their way up to understanding. How fast this goes and where it falls on the scale from healthy to bittersweet to outright tragic depends largely on the circumstances, I believe.

Unsure what effect the various ships that have potential to be sailing here would have to their potential relationship. Probably not much because Leila's interferrence with people's personal lives are almost constantly at a minimum; but interesting things might arise as they are both going out of their own comfort zones and being more open to interactions and the like, but in different ways. If the Jasadi ship goes forward and Leila is comfortable enough around Jasper before that ship sails far Jasper be prepared to be bombarded with questions that you're probably not prepared for. Heh.

I'm so all in for that silent conversation thing though. Sherlock game on.

Ace
The street smarts, maybe?

I heard about Ace teaching Riley about "the things she learnt growing up", as well as running around and causing chaos - and if by any chance Riley decides to drag Leila along on some of those trips, some shenanigans will inevitably occur.

If Ace gets really passionate about these teaching things I believe Leila's physical capabilities might just be on their way to being forced to improve by a great amount. Not falling over that much, at the very least?

What effects Ace bringing up her life will have is to be seen.

Toby
Oh great the hyperactive ball of childish sugar this is going to be intersting.

I...honestly don't know, though. Leila hadn't observed closely enough to formulate an opinion on him, but with the interaction with the shark as the first actual impression, it is likely that Leila will attach to Toby the same ideas that are related with Ace, perhaps moreso: optimism, an outgoing personality, activeness, and the tendency to act before thinking things through - something she'll realize the need to learn how to do. So as far as things go Leila doesn't have a reason to be defensive or hostile towards him, but depending on circumstances it may be plausible that she may unknowingly appear to. That, however, should clear away given enough time - and that time would probably not be long given Toby's personality.

After which I'm not sure what will happen. They'll most likely maintain a friendly relationship, but I think they wouldn't be as closely bonded as Leila would be with some other people? Not exactly sure why I imagine that.

Ran
Ran needs to teach all the people how to dance.

I kid, I kid. But um, Leila doesn't really know Ran that well yet either? Though, I do imagine him being the one she turns to for advice on more detailed, real-life things. I have the sense that Ran's inevitably going to take up the groups adult supervision sort of role, more or less, and that role would likely be what Leila will end up perceiving most out of him. If they were a family Ran is probably on his way to becoming that one cool uncle or something.

Lesley
Bubblegum hair. Lesley developing mother-child bonds with everyone haha.

It's...quite surprising how little Leila has interacted with Lesley. The only instance I could recall was probably the little bit they talked in the last chapter. The impression she had on Lesley was probably like a child of some sort and that made Lesley apparently feel the need to baby her in their conversations somehow? And we might as well make that continue.

Leila will continue to be fascinated by the bubblegum hair indefinitely.

NOBODIES

Songbird
Aesthetic crush continues :>

I can really only see development into, if anything, much like that between Song and Harper when he got upset at the party after the witch. Leila is not exactly intimidated by Song, but is just really likes how he looks and acts and is afraid to approach him only on the basis of "oh wow that look really precious better be careful I don't want to do anything wrong". If they get familiar with each other, howver, I see Leila clinging to the puffy sleeves and/or pants/robes and to what extent Songbird will tolerate or to be irritated by it is up to the player to decide. Healthy distance is to be maintained accordingly.

I imagine perhaps a few interesting conversations between them. A few because neither of them seem to be the type to talk a lot, and interesting because obviously neither of them is really good at dealing with things being brought up that they can't relate to or have knowledge of, and their life experiences differ greatly. If they ever talk the conversation is bound to be nearly always be rather awkward? But I don't see that getting in the way of them being friendly or adorable at the same time, hah.

Brandy
I second the tea/coffee lessons idea as well.

It's mentioned in multiple instances IC that Leila loved both beverages back at home, mostly tea. Then again what they make at home is a consistent single flavour of it, so Leila might just have to redefine the word tea to associate with a...much broader spectrum of tastes. She'll probably enjoy that, though. If this does happen there will be instances of Leila's head being able to deal with the accurate porportions flawlessly and the rest of her body failing miserably to keep up and likely flailing ingredients all over the place. Protection against hot water (or whatever else you might use to make tea in Nowhere that also happens to be dangerous on contact or ingestion) is advised.

But yeah I guess they'll enjoy that time together.

Martini
If Marti doesn't really get along with math then...well.

It might be fun to have Leila do some help with her clothes and all if given the chance. Leila will have her fun working with the the planes and spaces aspect of the work as Marti could perhaps focus more on the designing part if she needs to take a break from the repeatitive/physical labour heavy part of the art. I originally planned for this to be scheduled when I was away and Leila stayed inside Martini's room after she got there, but that was switched out under the circumstances. I don't see why it can't still happen though, since Martini is apparently still recovering and it isn't hard for that to lead to the scenario in which she decides to require help from one or two humans.

Marti's totally not gonna let Leila lay her hands on pen and paper but that won't stop her from just helping to carry cloths and rulers and mannequins around all the while marvelling at all the prettiness that would be Marti's workshop.

If that does happen, Leila will probably learn a lot while being confused a lot as well. Either way though, I see them developing a sisters-ish relationship much like Marti will with Jasper. Only if they grow close enough, though, I'd imagine, might the endless irritation towards Leila's lack of sense for aesthetics show in a way that could just be perceived as friendly and cute to some extent.

GENERAL
In terms of general development, I am looking to write Leila into the direction of a mostly regular person with a quirk or two as opposed to being outright detatched as I started off writing her and continued to for a long time. She'll still not talk much, but I look to conversations to be more sustained, meaningful, and comprehensible; instead of cryptic single-word exchanges (those will still happen tho). She won't be completely open to everyone still - she'll show that she cares about people which develops into a vulnernability and has a better grasp about things so that she isn't that clueless, but that won't tilt the scale all the way to an eternal sunny personality. The best case scenario is a well grounded, balanced, practical mindset; much like a stereotypical scientist? Complete change into that, though, won't be immediate and despite the big leap through the timeskip things will be fleshed out gradually after and development will continue. Tendency to loose her cool over exciting things will persist. Fear will be buried deeper and she'll cope better with things like the dark and death threats don't trigger a breakdown, but they'll still be there for the last chapters. Some traces of being socially challenged will remain, and I imagine her to generally try to be kind towards people but neglecting that more often than would be preferred; interaction will still be mostly passive but refusal over reaching out when necessary will lessen.

That's...about it then.

Please do notify me if you have any further ideas about the proposed interactions, or have anything that you wish to settle or to change. Much thanks.

Meanwhile, just read Toby's IC.

Toby said "I don't wanna go,"

[MUG]

Well, here is Inadi's relationship building stuff. If anyone wants to change stuff up let me know and I will. :)

Inadi

Harper: Inadi is definitely going to do his best to refocus Harper on the task at hand and protecting those in the group in his own little way. Since Inadi still has some practice to do with his spear, he will try to get Harper to also get some sword training in as well, that way it can make up for his lack of the amulet and he can simply have the sword with his own skill he can develop. As he becomes better at the weapon, he'll try to convince to Harper that he is strong enough to lead the group.

Riley: When the girl isn't off causing some problems and distractions with the prank brigade Inadi will do what he can to help Riley in her developing writing abilities. Every once and a while the two have a dispute over the way a certain paragraph should be broken up or what tense the action should be written in, but at the end of every argument the two reach a satisfying ending and a very good read once everything is said and done.

Leila: Considering how quiet Leila usually is, Inadi will do what he can to keep at least a little bit of a relationship going, but will more than likely at times feel like Leila is either not interested or not paying attention to him at all. During the time skip however, he makes it a mission to try and get the girl to smile or laugh at something. A feat he fails at miserably as far as he knows.

Ace: The two here have a nice jabbing relationship so far, and that will continue between the two on Inadi's part. Shooting a joking or teasing phrase at the girl once in a while just to keep her on her toes. Because of this however, Inadi ends up on the wrong end of some of Ace's more brilliant pranks and this causes him to almost become paranoid when the red head shows up around him. That aside though, Inadi does appreciate the support the girl gives him during his attempts to train with Harper and shoots similar praises in return.

Lesley: As Lesley and he were among the latest batch of Lost Souls to join the journey, Inadi and Lesley will remain pretty close for the most part. Again, he is still blind to the former advances of the man and continues to deny any butt touching that may have happened in Sol, but he does see Lesley as a tough and courageous member of the group. Confiding in him during the timeskip about his concerns towards Mr. Cuddles and the Hooded Figures he leaves his trust in the other man's hands. He also notices that he and Jasper begin talking again and tries to pry into what was said. Lesley denies him every time though, saying “it was an A and B conversation, so C your way out.”

Jasper: Not exactly sure why himself, but Inadi ends up spending as much free time as he can find with Jasper. He begins noticing that the girl gets a little flush around him every once and a while and is not sure why. Talking to Lesley about it, the pink haired man convinces him to take the girl for a walk around Nowhere to figure it out. Asking Riley about it as well, she agrees with the plan. During the walk Inadi found himself a jumbled mess of nerves and unsure of how to approach the situation. Eventually he simply asks Jasper if she would be interested in going on an actual date sometime, and he is surprised to here her say yes to his request. The two are now, in a simple sense of the word, dating for the most part.

Ran: Inadi looks up to Ran as an elder statesmen of sorts. Whenever he needs the help of a few more years of knowledge and understanding of the world he goes to the older fellow. Sometimes he likes to just talk about what they remember of the home they left behind and how different the two lived their days. Inadi does his best to refrain from using jokes about Ran's age, though sometimes they will slip out and do good for a cheap laugh.

Toby: At first Inadi sees Toby as a bit of a trouble maker and does his best to try and reel the boy in to use that unfiltered energy on more productive manners. After a while though Inadi just decides to let the be as free and careless as he wants to be. He notices that with Toby's attitude, the rest of the group isn't showing as many signs of loss and worry as before. The spectacle wearing man decides that for the betterment of the group, it is worth have a headache and no real quiet time to himself.

Song: Inadi tries to muscle up some more courage to talk about the Hooded Figures with Song again, but always finds himself deciding against it. At the end of the day he decides to offer assistance in helping Song find items or other things that he is asked to do around the castle. He figured that it was best to try and get back on the guides good graces anyway.

Brandy: Similar to Song, Inadi tries to talk more with Brandy about what he read on the newspaper clipping but ends up just hanging out and drinking a cup of tea from one of Brandy's sets. The taste is always a little too sweet for him, but he never mentions it as to not offend the guide. Sometimes he will even spit the tea back into his cup if he does like the flavor when Brandy's back is turned.

Martini: Deciding it was best for himself and those who had working eyes, Inadi was constantly working on his appearance with Martini during events where the group needed to dress for the occasion. Because of this the two actually enjoyed a nice moment by a fire place, where the main source of the fire was his old banana suit. The two enjoyed a good laugh as they talked about how disgusting it looked and what an eyesore it was. While the jokes flew however, Inadi couldn't help but think he didn't look that terrible in the suit though.

[Fox of Spades]

Take your time, Anon, but we're not forgiving you for that mini heart attack :P. Just focus on getting stuff sorted out, then come back to us when you can, don't worry about Lesley. We'll NPC him along for you. Best of luck with everything!

I just caught up with the IC, fantastic posts all around, and I'm loving all the interaction we managed to squeeze out of this interlude.

Awesome job guys (^w^)b! Also, the interlude is ending tomorrow so remember to get your relationship ideas up when you can. So far, I'm loving what everyone has come up with. I really like how Lesles is becoming a guardian/mom and the idea of some friction going on between Toby and Inadi is really interesting as well. How the relationships develop will definitely impact future group dynamics.

Riley will definitely drag Jasper and Leila along. Inadi isn't safe either. The silent trio will see their fair share of shenanigans unfold >8D Ace and Riley will make sure of that! Ehehe, Ran will definitely have to keep an eye out on all the kiddos.

And Four, eheheh 8D oh joy. *Rubs hands together and laughs evilly*

Harper definitely wants to befriend Leila. She's so silent and apathetic that he can't help but worry. Going through Nowhere without a shoulder to lean on sounds really rough, so he's hoping he can get her to open up and join in with the rest of them :) though lately she's been doing that, so that's really neat. I look forward to seeing a more approachable Leila after the time skip.

I'll have Chapter Five's intro up on Friday night ^^! I'm aiming for tomorrow, but I'll probably get more readings and stuff since most of my content courses are on Wednesdays and Fridays >-<

---

Edit: Heya MUG, Inadi and Riley should definitely get into a playful argument over sentence structure or tenses xD! Yay for writing pals. Love the idea of Harper and Inadi training together too, it makes the whole "let's promise to protect everyone" thing more solid and whatnot.

Also, I'm fine with Inadi and Jasper dating, though you'll need to get Kimchi's confirmation for that, and I'll just throw something in to make sure we're all on the same page. I don't mind when ships begin to set sail, it's all cool as long as things don't start turning into a 1x1 :) and I'll trust that you guys won't let that happen. Still, just gonna make things clear. I don't want Jasper and Inadi to isolate themselves from the rest of the cast, okay? And I'll want them to do their best to interact with the others as well. As long as that's clear then you two are free to let the ship sail. Speaking of relationship building, Kimchi, Four, if you guys don't mind :) I might put Leila and Jasper in the same group during the fifth chapter. Those two need to get some interaction going on between them xD

[MUG]

Yeah me and Kimchi discussed it already and she's okay with it. And I'll make sure to keep Inadi involved in the group overall. Besides, I imagine the ready of the crew is going to have their fun teasing him like first grade kids at recess about this anyway. XD

[Fox of Spades]

Oh yes B) I can see the rest of them doing just that *cough* Riley *cough* Ace *cough* Toby.

Because those three are practically elementary students in teenagers' bodies. I mean, they're definitely as enthusiastic as kids 8D

EHEHEHE. THE SHIP IS OFFICIAL.

AHUEHUEHUEHEU THIS IS PERFECT *begins plotting*

Ermm, I mean, how cute :3