KATAWA MEIDO GAMU! (PLAY THREAD)

[Commissar Mecha Milk]

EDIT: (Goddamn office internet)

(('Cept I'm already in the mansion. Yay for Lockpicking Maid Powaz.
Also, you probably don't have a chance in hell of winning a race, Crud, if Kenji's built on the normal rules. Butlers >>> Maids. They're superhuman. On average their stats are 1.5x those of Maids. We'll see if Kenji fits the mold, though.))

(Ah, but you're forgetting something, EL- in any contest with a maid, the Butler automatically loses.)

As the terribly confused butler stumbles into the mansion, he may be further bewildered by the azure gaze of a chain-mail-garbed girl a couple inches shorter than he, holding a -- (Yasuda Kaoru swiftly conceals her most recent acquisition from poking around the mansion) -- holding nothing, nothing at all. Or he may not be surprised at all; perhaps maids whose clothing could double as a parachute were more shocking than an armored one. Not that either was anywhere close to approaching normalcy.

"Setou Ke -- nji, I believe?" Kaoru beams as she forces out a whispered greeting to the butler, her hands fumbling behind her back to pocket (in spite of her armor's obvious lack of anything like a pocket) a clump of something very much resembling gunpowder. The act done, she wipes her palms free of the residual traces of the powder before brushing brown bangs aside with one hand, curtseying fluidly as she extends her other to the taller man. "I hope to be of -- service to Master Nakai..." She is either oblivious to his momentum and the items he carries or intentionally ignoring both.

Kenji simply rushes past Kaoru, tools and things in tow, only to be bowled over by the athletic Ayame, who leaves footprints in his back as she sprints over him, coming to a braking stop several feet inside the opulent mansion, in front of the downed butler. As she pulls up, she catches sight of the mansion's interior.



"The lady in the portrait is my grand-Aunt Masami; she liked the fashions of the West, and decided to have a mansion that emulated it as much as possible, says a new voice. As you watch, a pale, sickly looking young man walks down the stairs, a cane in one hand. "I'm Hisao Nakai. My-"

He cuts off suddenly, clutching his chest for a few moments, before speaking up again. "Sorry about that," he says sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head. "You are the maids I've been told about?" he asks.

[ThreeStep]

"Wait, you don't understand! We were sent here!" No use; the...butler? was gone. "Oh, by the Bull and Ruby." Abagail gave her duffel bag a halfhearted kick before dusting it off again. "I wish they told me anything about this."

Watching Ayame take off for the entrance, it got her thinking. Maybe this is a test. It must be normal or something. "So, a Rite of the Stream? Easy enough. Hey, um." The second girl, the tired looking one. "Marybelle. Hop on, we're going for a ride." Abagail gave a grin, pointing to her back.

Regardless of if Marybelle accepts the offer, Abagail hoists her bag and takes off for the entrance.

(Athletics roll of 16 if needed. http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/2327271/)

[Crud Bonemeal]

"Oh! You're Master Hisao? Yes, we're the maids, looks like I got here first. Sorry about your butler, I guess I got carried away. I'm Ayame Minamoto, my family has been serving yours for quite some time. It's a pleasure to meet you."

Ayame gave a polite bow to the young master.

("So, that's Hisao. He seems like he's in rough shape, but he only had his first attack recently. That's not right, he shouldn't look much worse off than Marybelle. He probably isn't taking his medication, and that nutcase over there probably isn't helping him keep calm. It's clear we'll need to have a talk today. Darn it, I hate being the bad guy. I just hope he knows about my real job already, or else I'll need to arrange for us to be alone. And with 'Krazy Kenji' over there, I don't think that's going to be easy. Ah, well, just stay positive and everything should work out.")

[EternalLurker]

((*sigh* I do hope we're not leaving Rozen too far behind... >_< ))

Not for the first time in her career, upon seeing her master-to-be Kaoru instantly hid her twitch of murderous intent behind a flurry of phlegm-spewing coughs, rubbing her aching throat irritably, an unoccupied part of her mind noting that Kenji's now-dirt-covered back was the unfortunate victim of her expectorations. She took a few seconds to collect herself, allowing Ayame to speak first, before turning to Hisao with, if possible, an adulatory smile dwarfing that which she'd feigned earlier. "Yasu--da Kaoru, Master Nakai, forev--ermore at your service." Her armor once more defying physics effortlessly, she again stepped forward to curtsey deeply in her chain mail, ignoring the grunts from the butler on whom she trod in the process.

She then leapt fluidly to the side (tuning out the ominous cracks from the general direction of Kenji's ribs as she does so) at the sound of heavy approaching footsteps, not trusting the incoming maid to be able to stop her momentum while carrying another girl.

((12 on Cunning to feign subservience, if it's necessary. Times like this are when Kaoru's disability comes in handy as a nin -- I mean, as a maid, of course, hah, no ninja bodyguard assassins here, nothing of that sort.

Edited for same reason as previous post))

[Crud Bonemeal]

Hearing a distinct crunching noise next to her, Ayame noticed that there was another maid in the room, and she had been walking on Kenji. In chainmail. Ayame moved to lift him, putting his arm over her shoulder. She spoke to him, though his response was irrelevant to her.

"Let me help you up, Mr. Butler."

As she pressed her hand to his chest to get him to his feet, she checked his ribs.

("Left side, middle rib, single fracture, but not broken. He needs a splint to avoid further injury. I need to be careful here. Nobody but Hisao should know I'm a nurse. The Nakais, being as wealthy as they are, are not without their share of enemies, and those people would see harming me as an easy way to harm Hisao. I think I know what to do.")

"Master Hisao, is there someplace Mr. Butler can lie down? He doesn't look too good, I think he might be hurt."

As she finished lifting the injured footman, she thought about this new maid.

("So she's Kaoru Yasuda. I'm not even going to wonder about the chainmail. Her information file arrived late. If I'd left for the plane a minute earlier, I never would have gotten it. Leave it to idiot clerks to risk a person's health with their inefficient delivery services. Why, one of my uncles didn't receive a file on a maid at the mansion he worked at until two weeks after she died of her disease! Ugh! *internal sigh* Anyway, she has mixed spasmodic dysphonia, that's probably why she's whispering. She presents a rare symptom, occasional severe pain in the larynx, which probably means she has some other problem there. She refuses the usual treatment of botulinum, not that I can blame her, considering how deadly it is in large amounts. Supposedly, there's a dose of the stuff waiting for me in my room in case she changes her mind, along with Hisao's emergency adrenaline and my own pills, and the rest of my standard medical supplies. Apparently, the same people who can't get medical files to me on time can sneak dangerous chemicals into a mansion. Well, it's not like this place was exactly swarming with people before today, but still.")

[Sgt_Frog]

((Hey, I'm really sorry to be saying this, especially in this thread, but who are the characters again? What are their disabilities? The only ones that were really clear were epilepsy and missing legs.))

[Commissar Mecha Milk]

DM STATEMENT: (Don't worry about Rozen, I'll write him/her/it in when he/she/it has time to post. Maybe the Maid drops through a plot hole, or something. I have no problems with breaking the fourth wall, and neither should you).

Even though he's had Ayame, Abigail and Kaoru walk over him in the past minute, Kenji still manages to leap up with surprising speed and agility upon finding that he was being (wo?)manhandled by Ayame. "DON'T TOUCH ME!" he yells as he jumps and backflips several feet away to Hisao's side, a moment before a mighty *CRACK!* echoes through the room, and he crumples in a heap.

"You might want to forgive my butler," Hisao says, grimacing. "He has... views on women."

"VIEWS!" says Kenji, as a remarkably straight hand points upwards from the heap, to Hisao's sighing.

"In any case," he says gently to you, "I welcome you to the mansion. Personally, I think it'd be nice to have some company-"

"NO!"

"-though I hope you understand I'm not really the social sort," Hisao finishes, ignoring his butler's protests. "Could someone please take Kenji to his room down the hall? I'm not feeling very well at the moment..."

"It's these girls, boss!" Kenji says, gesticulating wildly. "These girls with their waaays! And their female diseases! Just look at them! I bet they've got something planned, I tell you! Just look at them!" He fixes Kaoru with a poisonous glare. "I mean, she's probably an assassin or something, and the rest of them her minions! MINIONS!"

[whiteflags]

Marybelle could do little apart from watch the spectacle unfold while clutching her chest with a worried expression across her features. After all, he can't lock them out! Serving the master is impossible under such extreme circumstances! When Abigail offered to piggyback her inside, she accepted graciously and climbed aboard.

When she made it to the inside, she disengaged, and thanked Abigail again with a nod. She bowed when addressed by the master, and had already gone through the process of adjusting to Kenji's weirdness by not listening to his outburst.

She spoke up when he mentioned diseases though.

"Really, I don't think I have anything you can catch!" Oh, that was louder than I intended.

"Anyway, you can trust us, we just want to serve the master!" I turned to Abigail, and gave her a determined look and nod. By the way, it's funny how that works; people can usually feel eyes on them, even if you don't have much of a presence initially. Anyway, it seemed like he was just getting the wrong idea about us, and everyone else was just trying to clear the air. I wanted to get on his good side. I felt like I'd accomplished something by getting him to pay attention to me.

I volunteered to take Kenji to his room, since the servant's quarters were all sort of clumped together, and I've already been informed where I would stay. I also needed to unpack. It was a job anyone could do, but it was easy enough for me. It would be bad if he freaked, but that just required a little luck.

When Marybelle was determined enough, the real world went on vacation and she could deal with the consequences of her disability later.

I appeared next to Kenji. In the next instant I had already slung Kenji's arm around me, and carefully guided him to his feet.

[I got 10 on my luck roll: http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/2327452/]

[Crud Bonemeal]

("So much for avoiding a broken rib. Fortunately, I keep some bandages in my apron pocket, and using a splint on this guy will probably just get him splinters when he inevitably causes it to snap in half. Now I just have to deal with Marybelle. I'll just go with her, and I'll wing it from there.")

"Let me help you carry the butler, Marybelle, I was the one who trampled him. Please excuse us, Master Hisao."

Ayame positioned herself under Kenji's free arm, taking on some of the weight, being careful not to aggrovate his now-broken rib.

("It should be easy enough to set, assuming he doesn't have another fit. I'm not qualified for surgery, so I'll need to calm him down if he starts to freak out again.")

[EternalLurker]

((...Dude, Crud. I know you're enthusiastic, but you're making literally 40% of the posts in an RP in which 6 people are involved and we're hoping for Rozen to join as a 7th. This is why I was telling you to slow down earlier. Play-by-post RPing isn't a race; you're not going to break the laws of causality and get twice as many actions as everyone else just by posting twice as often.
In case you think I'm exaggerating about "posting twice as often", that's compared to the DM in second place: current post count is CB=8,CMM=4,WF=3,TS=3,EL=2,SM=1,Rz=0.

Also, whiteflags, don't forget Marybelle's stats. It's best to roleplay them rather than merely treating them as numbers which are only applicable in combat. "traveling in maid speed" and easily lifting a vehemently-resistant, larger man is kinda stretching believability for an Athletics score of 0, a score which always fails, even if you are trying to establish that she's willing to put forth physical effort despite her disability and her shyness.

Sgt_Frog, the OoC thread is where we've explained the disabilities, not here. I'll humor you, though. Kaoru has non-insensitive untreated mixed spasmodic dypshonia, Marybelle has a malignant heart murmur of some sort (whiteflags hasn't elaborated), and Ayame has EDS-focal narcolepsy. Sarina has the lower-leg prostheses and Abagail is the photosensitive convulsive-type (probably tonic-clonic) epileptic. If Rozen joins, he'll be Hanako.))

[whiteflags]

Also, whiteflags, don't forget Marybelle's stats. It's best to roleplay them rather than merely treating them as numbers which are only applicable in combat. "traveling in maid speed" and easily lifting a vehemently-resistant, larger man is kinda stretching believability for an Athletics score of 0, a score which always fails, even if you are trying to establish that she's willing to put forth physical effort despite her disability and her shyness.

[I was worried you'd say something like that. I was wholly expecting to fail but I didn't know if I could/should control NPCs like the butler. I'm regretting that my role playing hasn't met your standards though. I'm not sure I understand what you mean about shyness and how I'm screwing that up. If you're really miffed, I'm sure CMM can do something like make us do it over, and thank you for being patient with me.]

a malignant heart murmur of some sort (whiteflags hasn't elaborated)

[They're caused by all sorts of things, but she was born with it. I did link this article when I first introduced her and it does explain causes and anything else you'd want to know. I sort of thought it didn't matter beyond that.]

[EternalLurker]

((Oh, ignore the shyness thing; I didn't mean to italicize that. Editing that out now. And since this is Maid RPG! I wasn't worried about your controlling the butler; I think a little playful godmodding is okay in this system. I was just pointing out that flash steps might not be quite right for someone with Athletics 0, that's all. It's a minor thing, so don't worry about it. I was just noting it so you could be aware in future and not do things like swinging from chandeliers to kick ninja assassins through windows. ^_^ I like to catch stuff early in the event of a long RP; you're not doing anything wrong so far.

As for the heart murmur, I didn't mean that you had to elaborate. I was just stating the facts as-is: you haven't. Some heart murmurs can be dangerous while others are as benign as being double-jointed: out of the ordinary but not in any way likely to cause you harm. If you want to keep your options open (benign to allow an eventual increase in your Athletics score, malignant to create dramatic tension or a closer link with Hisao), there's no need to elaborate, unless Crud wants to know as the nurse.

So, yeah, on both counts I apologize if I've given the wrong impression. Your RPing is fine. I just wanna point that out to make sure you're aware for future reference.

And no one should hesitate to do the same for me, and with a lot more vehemence; I don't give a damn about bluntness. ))

[Crud Bonemeal]

((OOC: You're doing a good job, for your character's story, EL. Of course, I need to tell myself that as often as possible because it so happens that my pet peeve in RPGs is characters with goals that put them at odds with the rest of the party, like a Chaotic Evil Necromancer in a party of Lawful Good Paladins. Of course, unlike every other instance of that sort of thing that I've encountered, your maid root was completely out of your control, so I can't and won't hold it against you.

Also, yeah, I guess I post a lot, but if you'll notice, I'm not so much taking lots of different actions, as fine-tuning each action to account for what everyone else is doing, so that everything fits neatly together. Essentially, I only took five real actions: talking to the other maids at the outset, trampling Kenji, greeting Hisao, attempting to help Kenji, and now I'm currently helping Kenji some more after his outburst. I made two posts after Hisao entered and one after Kenji's freak-out, the other posts were all from the introduction, and the main reason I reacted to each maid's entrance was for the sake of exposition. I'll probably post a lot in conversations, but when real actions get underway, I'll probably make one post and then leave it until the results of that action are known, like I'm doing now.))

[EternalLurker]

((Fair enough: as long as you're noticing it and mainly keeping the posts to speech, that's fine, since talking is a free action. My pet peeve in PbPs is when a player takes so many actions between those of the rest of the players that the only explanation for what the others are doing during that time is "sitting around watching". Just don't do that and it'll be okay.

Yeah, in most games Revenge would not be a good root where everyone else has things like Mistress and Loyal and Relative, but in this setting I think I can make it fly, or else I'd've rerolled. CMM and Rozen already know what I'm doing, and I'm pretty sure the former is okay with it, though Rozen's yet to reply to my PM.

Anywho, ThreeStep is now in this thread, so once he posts we'll almost have everyone caught up. We're just trying to figure out how SirMax's Maid Root is gonna work; if you've got suggestions, feel free to post 'em in the IC thread. Once that's settled, we can get things moving at a pace closer to what you'd prefer.))

[ThreeStep]

(More pretending to be cripple maids, that's my criticism. )

Running felt good, even if only for a moment. No thinking, just moving. It reminded her of happier, less troublesome days: the Camp, running on the beach with Little-

The grand hall came up sooner than she'd have like. Setting Marybelle down gently, Abagail gave another grin. "You're very welcome. After all, we can't miss-" Then Abagail noticed the trampled Kenji, armored maid and BytheSunandBullandSeaand Him. The grin left her face, a blush flared and her eyes dropped to the floor. What had the Agency said to say? Not much. Falling on the old standby, she stepped forward and gave a wide-armed bow, deep and avoiding eye contact.

"Greetings of the Sun and Sea, um. Mister. Um. Master Hisao? I am Abagail, at your service."