A knock is heard at the door. Luna goes to answer it and is immediately greeted by Elara. Luna says, "oh hey Ella. Come on in." Elara steps in wearing a pink t-shirt with a star on it, black and white striped leggings, and a pair of combat boots. Her right arm is in a sling with a white cast covering it. On her back is a small knapsack with a rainbow tie-dye rabbit plushie sticking out of the top. She does not have her rabbit ears visible. Elara waves to the group, "Hey y'all, nice seeing you guys again." She then notices Norn standing by one of the walls and introduces herself with a bright welcoming smile, "oh hey, I'm Elara, Luna's sister. You must be Norn." Hinata mimics air quotes around the word 'sister'.
Spider nods at Elara as she enters noting the lack of rabbit ears, "hey."
Elara waves at them, "Hey Spider."
Viper has been sitting on her phone the entire time, looking bored
"I am! Norn's me!" Norn smiles and waves
Elara smiles, "Nice to meetcha." Then she reaches her left hand into her pocket and hands an envelope to Luna.
Luna tilts her head, "What's this?"
Elara shrugs, "So you remember how we were gonna go explore another guild soon? I got a letter the next day from that Guild inviting us to some gala happening there. And obviously, I don't wanna go solo, so uh. Do y'all wanna come with me? It's got free food and we might be able to figure out how the hell the admin there is."
Luna sighs and shakes her head, "this sounds like a trap and you know it. There's no way we go from talking about something and then the next day we get an invite to that same thing. I'm not going. Nova wants me captured.” She puts the newly unsealed envelope on the coffee table.
Elara sighs, "I guess. I just thought you'd be interested. Or your friends."
Luna shakes her head, "negative. I'm already an experiment. I don't want to think what they'd do to me if they caught me. Besides, weren't you going to tell us what the hell last week was? You know, your other form and the arcade? You lied to us, telling us the arcade was doing shit with the food."
Elara tilts her head and argues back, "Wait what? No, I didn't! The arcade is literally experimenting with the food, I was just there today!"
"What??? No, that can't be! The arcade is abandoned... right?" Hinata looks to Viper and Spider hoping they could corroborate her respones.
Viper looks up from her phone with a slightly confused look then looks over at Hinata, "You mean the arcade that had that trial thing in it? Yeah it looked severely abandoned."
Elara looks at both Hinata and Viper strangely, "You're... being real here. What the fuck?? That's weird. I went by there earlier today and it was normal, just as busy as ever. I don't get it."
Luna tilts her head from side to side in confusion.
Spider tilts her head giving Elara a strange look back, "it can't be."
Elara looks down, "I'm not lying. Unless they somehow disguised the arcade to look differently. Not exactly sure how they would though."
Hinata sighs and explains, "I know there was talk at Solaire about Portal technology being used for more than just the bags, but when I tried to get more information, I was denied. Something about creating living spaces in pocket dimensions is all I could gather."
Norn nods, "Sounds like pure chaos, I'm willing to help."
Not expecting such a willing Normie, Elara nods to Norn, "Oh wow, well thank you Norn. We're not exactly sure where to start yet. We could check out the arcade in town to see what's going on."
Luna nods in agreement. Hinata seems incredibly confused by this sudden interest. Spider gives her a confused look since she’s never heard Norn talk like that, then after sighing, she responds, “yeah I’m in too.”
Elara sighs, then pulls out her phone to read something. A light bulb seems to flicker on as she asks, "Well, let's head over there and see what we can find. Maybe we can figure out some things. Should we teleport or drive over? I dunno if you ever said it in your archives, but Luna, you do have that SUV still right?"
Luna shakes her head, "negative. I left it back in Meridian. It wasn't even mine to begin with. Uhh so either we walk or we teleport."
Having already made her mind up Spider disappears in a shower of green sparks.
Hinata sighs, "Great. Welp, time to do this I suppose. Uh Norn, are you sure you want to come with us? We won't be mad if you don't want to."
Viper puts her phone back in her pocket at hearing they're going somewhere as she mutters, "Fuckin finally...i'm bored..."
Norn wants to die internally, but she nods tentatively, "No it’s fine. I can go.”
Luna sighs, "Alright, just trust me on this. You won't feel a thing." She snaps her fingers and Luna, Hinata, Elara, Viper, and Norn all disappear.
-----------
Luna, Hinata, Elara, Viper, and Norn all appear next to Spider in front of a massive 2 story building with the words:
SUPERNOVA ARCADE
in bright bold lettering.
What seems to be the moon, the sun, planets, stars, and a couple rocket ships seem to be moving in and out of the animated logo. Everyone stands in the parking lot with lots of cars parked, crowds of people gathering in front of a stage, and what looks like food trucks and stalls selling food and merchandise. Luna tilts her head at the stage muttering, "hell's going on here?" Those who were at the Trials will notice the building looks nothing like it did that day. No sign of abandonment whatsoever.
Elara sighs, "I don't know. I'm not in the loop for anything. Remember? I left Nova.”
"I don't know but it's weird." Spider tilts her head surprised as she takes in the building then adds, "this might explain the cars though."
Viper stares at the building for several seconds then mutters, "What the fuck" she's still wearing the same thing since they went for the trials, plate carrier and all.
Norn looks ahead at the sights, "Oh wow, a retro show."
Luna looks over at Norn and notices the lack of disorientation, "Sorry for doing that so suddenly. If you're feeling diz-- wait, hm. Okay uh let's head over to the stage and see what's going on." Then she mutters under her breath, “wait, you should be disoriented if you’ve never been teleported before… who the hell are you?”
Despite their distance away from the stage, the group can hear the loudspeaker say, "Five minutes until The Lunartics concert begins! Please make your way to the Central Stage for our free concert!"
Hinata tilts her head, "The Lunartics? Ain't that a band from our world?"
Elara seems to be shaking with excitement, "Oh my gods oh my gods I love them! I have all of their band posters!"
Spider pauses the offer catching her attention, "in't that weird though? A free concert in a building that was apparently unabandoned."
Viper seems interested as she sighs, "Lets attend the concert and see if anything happens" she taps the two remaining grenades on her vest "Worst comes to worst I can control a crowd."
Norn asks, "You think they have chocolate tacos?"
Luna turns her head slowly to Norn, "The hell's a chocolate taco?"
An ice cream cart is situated nearby the concert alongside a couple other food trucks. The ice cream truck just so happens to offer Choco Tacos under the name "Comet Tacos." There are other frozen treats available at this truck such as popsicles, ice cream bars, and even some pre-frozen shakes. All of the food trucks seem to be themed around spacey themes, seemingly connected to Supernova.
Elara seems a bit nervous by this revelation, "uhhh Norn, you might not want to eat the food here."
Hinata is walking towards the concert crowd.
Spider looks at the ice cream van in mild disbelief, "and there's reason number two to not to go inside."
Viper stares at the ice cream van intently, her eyes darting back and forth around the cart as she thinks about something (mmm chemicals).
Norn looks over, “Considering how specific that was, I wasn’t planning to."
The crowd goes wild as the band enters stage left. Seems to be two punky female guitarists, a male drummer, and a female vocalist. The vocalist screams into the mic, "ayyyyyyyyy party people are y'all ready to rock!???!"
Elara hasn't gotten up to the crowd yet and she yells a healthy "WOOOOOOOOOO!" that would probably hurt Luna's ears from the sheer volume. In fact Luna nearly passes out from the volume of the crowd alone, Elara's general volume not helping. Elara continues, "oh my gods, that's Ashley Andromeda! Holy shit this is crazy! How are they here???"
HInata tilts her head at Ashley in confusion. Compared to the other very clearly emo and goth inspired bandmates, Ashley sticks out like a sore thumb. She looks completely nerdy with auburn hair, thick-rimmed round glasses, and a sweater vest. That said, as they begin to sing, their general tone is very screamo heavy. It's like symphonic death metal in a way, except somehow done with four bandmates. Lyrics are nearly impossible to tell due to everything, but the crowd seems to love it, even some singing along to the tune. It’s LOUD. Even potentially deafening. For all those with sensitive hearing, this music HURTS to listen to. For everyone else, it just sucks unless they’re already into death metal.
Elara dances in place like a goof then rushes into the moshpit and gets
Viper's staring is interrupted by the rock music and stares at the concert with a confused look, "I can't even hear myself THINK, fucking christ!”
Luna is suffering with her hands covering her ears. "Fucking.. I’m going to pass out, activate AUDIO MUFFLE KRYSTAL."
Krystal - Activated. Audio Muffle engaged!
Norn seems to be staring into it all with a slight face of both suprise, disgust, and pain.
Hinata sighs and snaps her fingers as a pink membrane of some material covers Luna's cat ears. "You forgot these."
Luna sighs and nods to Hinata, "Right, I wasn't aware fuckin death metal would be playing here."
As the music starts Spider yelps, the volume and amount of noise being way to much for her sensitive hearing. Unable to concentrate on anything else, she covers her ears leveling glares at the crowd and anyone else making noise as her breathing starts to gets shaky.
After 3 whole songs and roughly 15 minutes of auditory torture, the band ends their mini-concert. Ashley Andromeda waits for relative silence before speaking, "Thank you all for coming to our mini concert! Please check out Supernova Arcade for all of the fun inside. Oh! Speaking of which, we've decided to crown this as our first Adventurer's Guild outside of Capital City!" An eruption of confused tones and whispers comes from the audience.
Luna gulps, "Ad-adventurer's guild??"
Elara looks shook.
Hinata puts some pieces together and asks Elara, "Wait, is she an ADMIN?"
Elara shakes her head, "I have no fucking idea! I thought she was just an amazing singer! I've been following Lunartics for years now!"
Norn stays quiet
Viper rolls her eyes as she listens then slowly drifts back to looking at the ice cream cart
As the car park quietens, Spider manages to get her breathing under control. It's only after everything is quiet, that they drop their hands having not registered any of the past conversations.
Despite the crowd starting to disperse and the makeshift stage being dismantled, the food trucks and ice cream cart continue to stay. A line of people persist at the ice cream truck especially though that could be accounted due to the weather and the blacktop everyone's standing on top of. The menu seems rather ordinary with what you'd expect at a generic ice cream truck. Various novelties, some basic soft-serve type offerings, and some drinks are offered. Oddly though, upon looking at some of the treats other customers get, all of them have some kind of yellow sprinkles on them. Perhaps it's an aesthetic choice of some kind. These yellow 'sprinkles' also seem to be on the other foods as well. With relative normalcy returning, Norn and Spider might notice the lead singer of the Lunartics walking around the front of the building and then heading towards the back, almost as if trying to sneak over there.
Luna is still trying to get over everything, her ears flattened against her skull despite the silence.
Hinata is watching the building, trying to see if anything is wrong.
Elara is vibing, still getting over the fact that she saw her favorite band.
Viper notices the yellow sprinkles as she narrows her eyes, "Those yellow sprinkles aren't on any of the images..." she starts to head over to the ice cream cart
Finally recovering enough from the concert to be functional, Spider tilts her head as she watches the singer sneak away. In a monotone voice they say, "I think I've found where we're going next."
Norn sighs at the sprinkle color, "Yellow of all colors. Any color but yellow."
Spider sees Ashley run around the building rather quickly. She might remember that that was where the Employee entrance was during the trials. Viper notices that whenever a worker pulls out a novelty, they sprinkle something from a bowl called "Stardust" onto it. It's almost like glitter by how it shines and has a weird scent to it, one that triggers Hinata's hypersensitive smelling. She notes, "the hell is that? Smells... familiar. It's like sweet but like overly sweet."
If Norn is looking over there, she might notice that the label "Stardust" seems to be covering another label, almost like it's hiding something.
Luna follows Spider. And Elara heads into the front entrance.
Viper continues approaching, her stride showing authority as she hangs her hands on the front of her plate carrier. Norn doesn’t notice anything however. She stays quiet while peoplewatching and distracted by seeing a person with a mildly okay outfit pass by.
Vaguely recognising the entrance Spider frowns, getting a bad feeling as they head inside.
Viper reaches the ice cream truck. A worker looks at them with a bright smile, not really noticing or caring about her plate carrier or the couple grenades on it, "How can I help you?" Hinata watches before finding a table nearby and putting her head down in her arms, seeming exhausted for some reason.
The person definitely has a mildly ok outfit Norn, that's for sure. They seem to be heading inside of the arcade through the front entrance. There are also tables nearby with seating for people watching. Some sitting here seem to be workers and also look bored. Perhaps they might want to talk?
Spider and Luna enter the arcade through the back entrance. Elara is nowhere to be seen. Viper stares into the worker's eyes as she demands, "Let me see the sprinkles your putting on the food, now"
Norn walks up to a stranger with no regard of any conversations already happening, "Do you guys know how far away the nearest albatross is?"
The worker looks terrified now noticing the armor and grenades, "OH GODS Here! D-Don't hurt me health inspector!!" She looks like she's gonna cry and hands Viper the bowl and the labels. It's like a golden sparkly sand texture. The scent might be familiar to Viper, an artificial cotton candy scent, one reminiscent of a previous date. The stranger tilts his head at Norn, "The fuck's an albatross?" He's wearing a rather gaudy outfit, one reminiscent of a glow stick rave. He's got baggy pants with lots of rivets and leather straps are literally everywhere, as are glow sticks that aren't glowing super bright. His top is sleeveless and also completely black. Hinata has completely fallen asleep at the table.
Norn shrugs, "Albatross, like that score on mini golf courses. I bet it’s not that far."
Viper glares at the worker as she inspects the container, noting the smell
The man talking to Norn raises an eyebrow, "I-- I mean there's a mini golf course inside of there??? It's pretty fun. Maybe you can find an albatross in there."
The 'stardust' smell is overwhelmingly sweet, like to the point where it could be used to disperse crowds if used correctly. A sticker label written in yellow and black marker calling it Stardust seems to be covering another label in much more boring font. It looks to be peelable.
Hinata slumps from her seat and onto the ground. She's snoring very lightly. Elara is still not back.
Norn continues talking without any regard for the man’s time, "But how far do you think it is? Like in inches preferably? Unless you have a thing against inches, I know alot of people that don't like them for being the size they are."
Viper uses her fingernails to attempt to get the label off while narrowing her eyes at the label. She’s able to read the following: Hypnosedative Powder - NHI012919XX. Upon noticing her snooping into their secrets, a couple of Nova workers walk up to Viper and stare at her with a stern look, “Can we help you?” They have nametags on their shirts with Nova Heart’s Logo. Viper quickly scoops a handful of the sprinkles and crushes them, "You can" she then blows the dust directly into their faces with a large smirk.
Back to Norn, the man seems very annoyed all of a sudden, a hand covering his forehead, "Good gods lady, you don't know when to stop. I don't know what the hell you're on about. If you want an albatross so badly, get one yourself." He then walks away into the arcade. There are others out there just chilling.
Norn walks up to another person, “do you know where the nearest albatross is from here?"
The two staff members instantly pass out on the ground after Viper blows dust in their direction. In fact, if Viper were to look around, she'd see hundreds of people knocked out on the ground, Hinata included.
The person Norn walks up to has a Nova Heart insignia on her lapel. They're dressed rather modestly, a business casual polo and slacks. On their badge the name 'Nova ADMIN Lyra' can be seen. They respond, "about 60 inches that way," and point towards the arcade’s entrance. "You don’t have a thing against inches?!?" Norn's eyes widen.
Viper notices Hinata knocked out and quickly rushes over and tries to shake her awake, "Hinata? Can you hear me?" Hinata wakes up rather easily with a goofy, yet tired smile on her face. Her voice is a bit slurred as if sounding drunk, "heyyyyy vyssse... nice to see u in mydreamz.."
Lyra tilts their head in confusion, "what? It's closer to wanting to be precise, plus I overheard your other conversation and wanted to give you that same precision. I honestly prefer centimeters over inches though, but inches are perfectly viable."
Viper sighs and shakes her head, "You are...really cute but I need you to relay something for me into Luna's server" she hopes that Hinata is awake enough to understand her
Norn asks Admin Lyra, "What are your thoughts on the carrot economy then?" Lyra takes a couple moments to process this weird lady's question and answers to the best of her ability, "The carrot and produce economy is booming rather well thanks to Nova Heart's farming assistance. At Nova, we do our best to help all because we're all family." It's pure elevator talk.
Hinata still seems out of it, but she tries her best to listen to Viper, her voice still slurred, "shure.. what dyou need..." Viper nods as she smiles, "Alright, tell them that I've found out what the sprinkles are...they are Hypnosedative powder" she makes sure to speak clearly and slowly for Hinata.
----
[Location Tag - #hangout-spot]
Hinata - hiiipnoooosetative powder......
Luna - wha
Hinata - i feel sick eepy time
Luna - whats hypnosedative powder?
----
>
After relaying Viper's message to the best of her ability, Hinata yawns and closes her eyes once more, "i feel sick, eepy.." she then falls back asleep. Viper sighs and joins Norn in talking to Lyra, hiding the bowl of sedatives behind Norn’s back.
"I thought you make arcades, not carrots?" Norn squints
Lyra shakes her head, "Negative. Nova Heart Incorporated is a multi-faceted company designed to make our citizens' lives much easier. Whether it's entertainment, agriculture, social, or scientific experimentation, Nova is all about family helping family. Carrots are just as important to us as Arcades or Adventurer's Guilds." She's got a very professional demeanor about her.
Norn scoffs, "So how does a multi-faceted company not run into issues with spreading out resources when the resourses of a single planet are limited let alone there being the sheer distance and coverage of land you would need to even function if you such a diverse option without outsourcing your labor to other companies rather than making it all yourself? It seems redundant to be a monopoly when there’s nothing to gain from it."
Lyra actively listens to Norn's question, seemingly taking notes internally. Then, she answers, "Simply put, this is our first foray into expansion in other worlds. For everything we cannot create ourselves, we outsource to other companies we partner with. You made a wrong assumption madam in stating we create everything. In essence, we work with others and they share in our profits." Lyra notices Viper walking up, "can I help you?"
Norn sighs, "I would suggest not leading with implying it then. Makes it seem like you're doing more than you are. Though with plastic spatulas lately, who would want a mailbox on both sides of the house?"
Viper eyes the Nova Heart badge for a moment then looks up at her face and speaks calmly, "You know i'm quite impressed with your work, do you need help synthesizing chemicals?"
Lyra nods to Norn, "Understood madam. Thank you for taking the time to talk with me." Then she tilts her head at Viper, "Hm? I don't understand what you mean."
Viper snickers quietly, "You don't need any chemicals? No kind of sedative to knock people out?" her face starts to turn to a smug smile
Norn says out of nowhere, "I usually use hammers."
For the first time all day, Lyra's prim and proper demeanor changes to one of intrigue as she hears Viper's suggestion, "Hmm. Interesting. Would you like to chat with me in my office Miss-- erm what's your name?"
Lyra then looks at Norn in genuine interest, "You really are an interesting woman, aren't you? Hammers are rather cartoonish, wouldn't you say?"
Her tone is a lot more active and passionate than her previous stiff as a board mode.
Viper extends a hand to shake as she smiles, "I'd gladly have a chat with you and the name is Viper, and no it's not related to the snake"
"Not cartoonish, clinically insane you mean. I eat my frosted flakes with the envelopes on the top shelf," Norn smiles without a care in the world.
Lyra seems to be taking keen interest in Norn, nodding along with her insanity, "Of course of course, very interesting. I never got your name either madam. My name is Lyra."
Then she shakes Viper's hand firmly, "It's nice to meet you. Here's my card." She reaches into her breast pocket. Upon realizing she's not wearing her usual suit top, she reaches into her purse and hands Viper a business card with her name, a phone number, and the location of Supernova.
"I'm Norn! I can't remember my last name!" Norn nods happily.
Viper takes her card and slides it in-between the straps of her plate carrier, "Thank you" she smiles brightly
Lyra nods towards Viper with a similar level of brightness, "It is a pleasure to meet you. I must return to work, however, but do you have any questions for me?" Then she turns to Norn. Her mood seems to be slightly dim, "Me neither. I am just called Lyra currently. I can’t remember my last name."
Viper shakes her head, "I have no questions currently, I'll be in contact" she keeps her bright smile
----------
The back entrance of the arcade is a white corridor with some basic flourescent lighting. No cameras can be seen. Following Ashley, she turns the next corner. The muffled sounds of arcade video games and what sound like cars can be heard back here. Luna follows Spider inside, "Whoa. This is something."
"..it's completely different." Spider mutters glancing around as they continue to follow Ashley.
Ashley goes through a door and in their haste they forget to close it. It seems they're nervous about something just by the way they forced it open. "What the fuck? Did something happen?" Luna asks
Spider narrows her eyes intrigued by Ashley's behavior. They give Luna a shrug and then peer around the door, wanting to get her bearings before charging in.
Upon looking inside, it looks like a normal break room with some tables and metal chairs facing a television showing the news. Ashley seems to be watching the news broadcast and her hair seems to be a disheveled mess. Past that, she doesn't notice Luna or Spider peering inside. Luna tilts her head and whispers, "do we... go inside?"
Spider shakes their head attempting to look past Ashley to see the news broadcast.
It appears to be a broadcast of someone getting arrested. It appears to be a man with streaks of red hair within his otherwise jet-black hair. He looks vaguely familiar, like someone Spider could've seen in Capital City. A headline underneath is difficult to read due to Ashley blocking their, but she can read the phrases "Creatures of Legend", "Author", and "Maximillian” with the scrolling. Ashley then looks behind her with tears in her eyes. With a gravelly tone in her voice, she asks, "who... are you? Are you here to arrest me too?"
Luna goes completely silent. Not getting anytime to react to the news Spider sighs and shakes her head stepping into the room, "No we're not."
Ashley coughs and bit and drinks from her water bottle, which has something yellow and sparkly in it. Then with a tired voice, she responds, "urgh.. sorry. I thought you were the police sent to pick me up. I cannot believe he got arrested. Maximilian... it's been too long." Ashley then exhales and sighs, "so... you two fans of the Lunartics or something?"
Luna shakes her head, "no, it's a bit too loud for me. You..." she pauses and stares at them, "you look familiar to me and I don't know why."
Spider is quiet for a moment looking over Ashley and the yellow sparkles in her bottle. Spider then shakes her head replying with, "we have a friend who is, though if you're at risk I'm surprised you're performing."
Ashley breathes an exhale and then takes another swig of her drink. Her voice seems to be healing from all of the screaming she did earlier, "It's not that I'm at risk, but it's just. You spend most of your life with someone, then months later, the first time you see them again is them getting arrested for something I did? It's disheartening. I was fully prepared to be arrested too. Besides, I love my job, and being able to be with my band and lead this guild? I'm happy." Ashley shows a smile towards Luna and Spider.
Luna continues to stare. Ashley stares back as if recognizing her too.
Ashley, "wait... are you?"
Luna, "alphaprototype6969 yes."
Ashley, "Ah.. hm. Wow, it's been a long time."
It's awkward.
Spider looks between the two with a confused expression but decides she'd rather question Ashley than open that can of worms, "something you did?"
Ashley sighs and takes one more swig, "has to do with some old experiments I did for Solaire. Long story short, neither of us thought we'd get caught, and then here we are, Max was arrested and now I'm just waiting to be taken too." Spider will notice that Ashley has a strange earring on her left ear, it almost looks like a tiny gold-plated lily pad. Ashley then goes silent.
Luna speaks up, though her tone is monotone, "if it's got to do with what I went through, I forgive you and Max. Y'all were always nice to me."
Ashley perks up and smiles, "thank you. It does in a way, but it's also a bit more complicated than that. I uh better get back to work, if that's ok? Feel free to explore the guild if you want, or you can come back when we're not totally swamped with newcomers."
Spider nods, "don't let us keep you." She looks at Luna adding, "we'll come back another day yeah?"
Luna looks over as her eyes seemingly flash from red to their usual blue, "Yeah, we'll definitely be back. Take care Flo-- Ashley!" Ashley waves goodbye, though thoughtful, "Take care you two, be safe out there." She then picks herself up and walks out of a door nearby to head into the main arcade. A bunch of cheering can be heard albeit muffled. The way back out through the employee corridors is open.
As soon as Ashley's gone Spider closes her eyes and takes a deep breath then turns to Luna again, "you alright?"
Luna takes a deep breath and explains, "it's... a long story from my past. I'll tell it you all soon. It's just. I knew her pretty well, and besides how painful her experimentation was, she was very kind to me. Anyway, let's head back, hopefully it's not a fuckton of chaos out there."
"..hopefully." Spider sighs and exits the room heading back to where they left the others.
-----------
Hinata seems to wake up as does a good chunk of everyone passed out on the pavement. Aside from Hinata, everyone else seems to have an inebriated look on their face. Goofy sloppy smiles and slurred speeches come from most. Some seem to have their hands on their heads, perhaps a headache of some sort? Hinata meets Viper and Norn, curious about the bowl behind Norn's back, "What's this? And why does it smell sweet?"
Lyra turns to leave, but noticing the wakeups, she remarks, "Good." Then she walks into the arcade.
Elara steps out with a black moon-themed giftbag with an electric-looking L on it. "Oh my gods, this was amazing! I got to see my favorite band AND got autographed swag??? Holy shit, I'm so happy! Whoa, what happened out here?"
Luna and Spider walk out from behind the arcade. They walk over to the group and Luna asks, "y'all ready to head back?"
Norn shrugs, "It’s a weird show design. Like I’ve seen masses of people drugged in tv shows but I’m not sure how to feel about it in live action.”
Viper takes the bowl out from behind Norn as she looks over at Hinata, "I’ve got the key to why you two have been passing out, and i've made contact with one of the Nova Heart Admins" she taps the business card tucked in her plate carrier with her free hand.
Spider raises an eyebrow as she listens to the conversation, "what do you mean by have been?"
Luna tilts her head, "Wait what do you mean Viper?" Hinata is silent watching the conversation. Elara is literally just looking through her goodie bag not paying attention to anything.
Norn mumbles, "vanilla folder pinata parties."
Viper turns the container of sprinkles around to face the group, "It had the sweet smell that was at the coffee shop, plus i used it to knock out two employees so..."
The crowd of people formerly knocked out and then high now look around, confused about a lot of things. Phrases like 'wait where am i', 'when did i dress emo???', and 'oh my gods what the FUCK happened?' can be heard by the group. Hinata seems just as confused, "The wha? Ugh, I don't remember that." Luna also seems confused as well.
Notably, the scent doesn't affect Spider, Norn, or Viper in any way. It just smells sweet to them.
Spider looks around the phrases catching their attention, "sounds like it's not just you Hinata."
Luna sighs and looks tired, "maybe we should head back? Any objections?"
Elara shakes her head, "none from me. I'mma head home. See ya!" She then walks away in some direction to where she lives.
"Nah, I need a nap." Hinata yawns cutely.
Viper shakes her head, "I'd prefer to get home so i can explain what exactly i did without worrying about someone hearing it"
Spider sighs, "No I'd rather leave before anything else happens."
Norn simply frog blinks and doesn’t say anything.
Everyone disappears on the snap of Hinata's fingers. Upon returning home, Luna and Hinata nearly pass out immediately as Viper continues to keep the bowl of Stardust out in the open. Everyone else in the room smells a very sweet scent emanating from it. Norn stays standing in the middle of the room while smiling, Spider is sitting in her usual armchair, and Viper pulls out the business card from her plate armor and sets it on the table, "If we didn't already know where nova heart is, we know now."
Exhausted, Luna lazily looks at it, "ughh.. but they're in Nova District.. that’s just the address for the arcade…” It's true. The business card is just for the Supernova Arcade in town. In fact, the Lyra person doesn't seem to have a last name. Just "Nova ADMIN Lyra". The phone number seems legitimate though and has a local area code.
Norn comments while the scent penetrates the entire room, "I feel like I could smell a burning charity right now. Too bad my nose doesnt work."
Hinata has fallen asleep beneath Luna.
Viper covers the sprinkles with her hand as she takes it into a different room, "I'll be right back..." As the bowl is taken out of the room, the scent nearly immediately dissipates. This wakes up Hinata and Luna. Norn just waves happily at them
Hinata stretches as if she had a whole night of sleep in those few minutes, "ahh good morning Norn.. Uh why are you standing in the middle of the room?"
Luna tilts her head and seems well-rested, "hm. That was weird."
"We went to an arcade and there was an albatross but since it was 60 inches away i decided to file the envelopes to the top shelf for the pinata party!" Norn smiles from ear to ear
Hinata just stares at Norn like she just heard the ramblings of a mad woman. Wait, no no, she DID just hear the ramblings of a mad woman, "What... I-- what??? That's... good?? I think?"
Luna just has this look on her face that screams 'call the police...'
Norn nods, "I think its good, Viper seemed happy about it."
Viper walks back in with the sprinkles in a sealed mason jar, "I contained the sprinkles!"
The gold dust shines in the light of the room. It's rather pretty. Luna smiles, "That's good. Thanks for doing that Vyse."
Hinata nods as the two of them seem tired once more, this time a more natural exhaustion than the scent-induced one.
Norn looks over at it, "What if you snort it?"
Viper glares at Norn, "Bad things, the carrots win" she sets the jar down on the table
It looks like an extremely fine gold glitter. If you got it in carpet, you may never get it out. Luna gulps, "considering that comes from my world I would suggest not doing that."
Hinata sighs, "Why are we warning people?"
Luna objects, "because! I don't want my world to negatively affect people.. It sucks."
"You say that like we've never negatively affected people Luna. We have friends fighting for us for that reason," Hinata exhales.
"Sometimes I think about the people I’ve hurt," Norn says in her usual chipper tone
Viper shrugs, "I don't"
Hinata stays silent. Luna, on the other hand, admits, "I do as well. I get a lot of nightmares of those days of my life, but that's why I choose to fight. To protect instead of harm."