World Tree MUSH

    Game Center Crown is actually fairly quiet, most days after school. With most students all occupied with after school club activities, it's really not until later in the evening that the place really gets hopping. Though there are some students who don't have after school activities that get out earlier and can slack off... Today is not such a day for one Usagi Tsukino.
    Flash Cut to Juban Middle School:
    "Waaaaahhhhh! Why did Miss Haruna have to give me stupid detention! All I did was have that dumb test erased!"
    Flash cut to now. Evening time. The arcade is abuzz with kids and teens who have flocked to the arcade wanting to try out the new offworld games- and a few that want to play the new Sailor V game that also got released.
    ENTER USAGI TSUKINO, the blonde looks haggard, having to stay extra hours after class studying is just plain not fun when she has other things to do, and like a complete zombie, the twin-tailed blonde shuffles to the clerk on duty.
    "Motookiiiiiiiii. I can't beat the first boss in the Sailor V game. Can you help meeeeeeee?" She pleads, tears in her eyes as the clerk turns.
    "Oh, hey Usagi! Sure. Sorry I'm a little wiped and I don't know why, but I can show you a few tricks." He says, rubbing at his eyes as they head over to the arcade cabinet, Usagi with hearts in her eyes and suddenly a lot more energy.
    Funny though how the atmosphere of the arcade has changed since yesterday. It's more active, sure, but the gamers present seem sluggish and withdrawn, eyes with heavy lids as they fumble at their arcade sticks, and no one is sure getting any high scores tonight.

    There's one person here who wouldn't recognize the atmosphere as different from yesterday; mostly because she just got in this afternoon!

    Octavia's been out handling family business, both at home and abroad, but with a few days off, she's decided to come stop off in Tokyo again. There are still a few things in this world that she's curious about - not the least of which is this mysterious arcade thing. These strange games of projected images and fantastical sounds, buttons and levers and what is that vehicle thing there? It looks like it has a ship's wheel, but without handholds, and smaller, and what are those pedals?! And that machine there, it has what looks like a machine pincer in it, and all those stuffed animals, and-

    Octavia might just be a tad distracted by all the shinies.

    She's also dressed in a rather formal noblewoman's outfit; if only for the fact that people seemed quite pleased to see her in such a dashing getup with a rapier at her side, on previous visits. She's not sure what 'cosplay' is, but it must be highly vaunted if people are so enamored of it!

    Uni's been around the arcade most of the day, talking to people about the games, showing them tricks she's figured out in some of the off-world and local games, and even showing off the built-in games in her U-Tab, the modified N-Gear she keeps in her inventory. She's hoping she's gotten a couple of local Believers, but as evening approaches, she leans against one of the support pillars and huffs a little. "I guess I should see my other adherants, their faith is falling a little." She notes Usagi's return, and gives the blonde a little wave in greeting, before summoning a Nepbull and chugging it, trying desperately to stabilize her energy levels.

    Dante turned in pretty soon after Usagi got her little prize the night before, visiting a motel for the night. The day after, he's still feeling pretty exhausted for reasons beyond him. It's weird, he rarely feels this tired. Even a triple frappe on the way to the arcade isn't enough to get him on his feet for long. Yawning, he wanders into the arcade. "Oh, hey guys." He says between yawns, waving lazily as he shambles toward Usagi and company.

    Goddamn, it's hard to keep his eyes open today. Dante rubs at his face, leaning on a cabinet as he tries to keep awake. "...man, everyone's a damn zombie today."

    Josuke is also there, having decided to give that Gradius-like game another go. He's been playing it for a while. And as he loses his last game life (again), he notices something -- he's... actually kind of tired. "Ah, geez..." he mutters. "Must have forgotten to eat." He's been pretty focused on the game, after all. For the moment he doesn't notice the tiredness of the rest of the place -- he's not really paying attention.

    Though as he turns to locate food to restore his energy levels, he hears the voice of Usagi. "Huh... she's still at it," he observes. So he heads in that direction instead, to see if she's gotten through it. He offers her a wave as he heads over there. He notes Uni and Dante as well, and smiles. "Hey," he greets them; it's a friendly tone, but it's without his normal chirpy cheerfulness.

    Oh look who it is. A bunch of people Usagi recognizes. Waving back to Uni as she settles in, there's no missing the lovestruck expression on the blonde's face as Motoki plinks a coin into the machine.
    "Oh hey you're all back." He says, fighting off a yawn and trying to keep up his usual cheer. "I was about to show Usagi how to get past the first boss."
    Aside from Usagi... It's... Kind of true. Everyone in the arcade, including the employees look so... Completely exhausted.
    All except one, anyway. A woman in an arcade clerk uniform emerges from the back, eyes shifting left and right as she surveys the assembled and grins to herself. Needless to say she looks SUPER SKETCHY as she starts futzing with one of the machines, running it through a debug screen.
    "Hey guys!" Usagi chirps, completely clueless, before she notices, "--Oh! Octavia, you..." Looks like you've never been in an arcade before. Usagi doesn't say it, but she does beckon her over as well. "Motoki's about to show us his moves~."
    his is all fine and good except it would seem Motoki is too tired to keep up with the game.
    He dies.
    Miserably.
    Though he rubs at his eyes and tries again, he just... Dies again.
    And again.
    And one more time.
    He doesn't even MAKE it to the boss before he passes clean out and slumps over the cabinet controls.
    "Weh!? Motoki?! Motoki are you okay?!" Usagi bleats as...
    Other arcade goers start crumpling over onto the ground as well.
    "U-uhhhh..."

    Uni is more alert than some. Perhaps by the fact she's taking energy from an outside source. She scans across the suddenly collapsing locals, and spots the only person who doesn't seem to be affected. "Guys... something's wrong here." she says, summoning a pair of pistols from her inventory and leveling them at the employee. "Whoever you are, and whatever you're playing at, it ends here."

TDante's at least got his demonic blood to thank for his consciousness. That said, he's having a hard time not yawning again. With perfect timing, someone drops like a sack of potatoes, and Dante goes for one of his pistols, aiming it at the employee once Uni does.

    "Okay, you-*Yawn* better fess up. Right now's a terrible time for me to be kickin' anybody's ass, so let's make this faaaaaa-" He yawns again. Jeez, this is contagious.

    "Ah, miss Tsukino~! Hello." Octavia bustles right on over, and if Usagi thought she'd be embarrassed about her first trip to an arcade, she's in for a surprise. "Goodness me, but your entertainment in the world is so very advanced. We don't have anything of the sort in Crossingway~! I'm glad I took the time to visit." And what follows is a show that's... a lot less impressive than it ought to be. But frankly, Octavia is so new to it all that she doesn't notice until Motoki collapses.

    "It's just like before," she realizes, and already Hauteclere is coming out of its sheath. She sees Uni point out an employee, and frowns - but doesn't point her blade quite yet... mostly because she doesn't have the faintest clue what constitutes 'sketchy' in a place like this.

    She DOES, however, reach over and give Dante a little nudge. "Get hold of yourself, nodding off right now could be hazardous to your health." Nudge nudge.

    Josuke nods at the mention of Motoki showing Ugasi how to beat this first boss. "Yeah, I noticed you were having trouble yesterday," he admits. "Once you get its pattern memorized you should be able to..." He trails off. Motoki is... not doing well. He blinks. "H-hey, are you..."

    And then the arcade worker falls over.

    "Hey! Are you okay?!" Josuke calls out, alarmed. He moves to catch Motoki and put him down on the floor slowly, so he doesn't fall down and hurt himself. "...This isn't just from standing up too long..." he observes. A pause, then, as he notices all the others falling over. "Oh man... not again," he mutters.

    Looking up from where he's crouched on the ground, "Usagi-chan, I think you should get out of here, fast. I think it's another of... those..." Josuke trails off, suddenly fighting to keep his eyes open. He wobbles. Uni's words register. Dante draws on the only 'employee' not seeming to be affected. Josuke starts to stand up...

    ...But he doesn't quite make it. Joestar blood or not, he is a normal human, as are the people that have already gone unconscious. And he has no other source of energy aside from the one that's currently being drained! With a growl of defiance...

    ...His eyes slide closed, and he falls over onto his side!

    For the record, Motoki is okay, he's just passed out. But if whatever is draining his energy continues? For him OR the rest of the arcadegoers that have keeled over?
    It could very well be lethal.
    "W-wuh?" Usagi's eyes shoot wide open as Josuke is next to collapse, and Uni and Dante draw on the only remaining game center clerk that looks to be alright. Even Hauteclere has been drawn.
    This... This is bad.
    For Usagi Tsukino, this means one thing. The girl gets up...
    And she quickly takes Josuke's advice.
    "I'll go get heeeeelp!" She yelps as she books it down an aisle of games.
    It's the best she can do, right?
    So that leaves the clerk.
    Though guns are drawn, she spends a few more beats debugging the game she's messing with before glancing over her shoulder, a menacing smile spreading to show wicked sharp teeth.
    "Fess up? Of course I'll fess up. I'm gathering energy for our Great Ruler." She admits rather candidly as she sets a hand on the arcade console-- causing it to short out and launch a slew of live wires and cables at Uni, Dante, and Octavia, crackling with deadly electricity!

    Dante has to admit, the clerk's pretty ballsy considering she's got a gun pointed to her head. Once cables start coming toward the group, Dante draws his other pistol and opens fire on the cables, dodging one of them as he tries to avoid being shocked and whipped. "You're gonna get more than you bargained for, lady!" He calls out, firing at the clerk too.

    "Go, go," Octavia urges Usagi, before turning back around to face the strange clerk - only to be met with a mass of wires coming right at her. She reflexively takes a step back and whips Hauteclere up in a defensive cut-

    TZZT. "Aaah-!"

    Only to receive a glancing shock for her trouble. She's managed to prevent being electrocuted outright, but that was still absolutely not fun to experience. She has no clue what she's dealing with here, and by now even she's feeling a bit of that energy drained. And with all the others collapsed... no, maybe there's something she can do.

    The noblegirl whips her mageblade about, rapidly carving a series of glowing runes in the air. It's longer than most she's used, but the reason why becomes obvious. Rather than swiping the completed spell outward, she whips her blade across it downward - and the runes descend, before exploding into a warm, gold-white halo of light that suffuses the entire area for several meters. "Why don't we see if this energy drain of yours can hold up against Sacred Ground?"

>> SUMMARY[Octavia de Tenebrae] >> Laying down an area effect of holy energy.

    Uni grunts as she gets tangled in shocking cables, electricity arcs across her body, causing 'welts' of red, damaged code to appear where it skitters past. These close up moments later, but the damage is stacking up.

    She doesn't react like an organic person would, and drop in a convulsing mess. Instead, she fires both pistols at the arcade machine, trying to break it so it stops shocking her and her allies.

    Josuke is still, like the rest of the people here. He'll just be another person who won't remember the incident when he wakes up, won't he? Well, aside from the other incidents. And he knew something was up when he fell over. But still... he's not going to be of much help, is he?

    ...Or maybe he is.

    Joestars have a reputation for being notoriously difficult to knock out permanently. Josuke may not have the name, but he has the blood. More than that? He's pissed. The Joestar bloodline takens to draw their strength from righteous indignation. Even Jotaro, the rudest and least personable of the lot, can't stand when innocent people are made to suffer for some pomous asshole's 'greater purpose'.

    Besides that, Octavia's holy ward might just dissolve some of the metaphysical claws that have been sunk into his energy reserves! It definitely brings him back to his senses, feeling that holy energy. He'll need to thank her once this is over!

    It takes him a while, but Josuke fights his way back to consciousness, dragging his eyes open. He pulls himself to a knee, baring his teeth. "...Right, that's it," he decides. Though the youma gives him the vector of attack. As the electric cables whip out above his head, he summons Crazy Diamond. The Stand appears... and grabs at one of the electrified cables! "Back at'cha, lady!" Josuke growls, and Crazy Diamond suddenly glows with an orange-gold aura... as it tries to return the electricity back up the cable to attack the youma!

    In an instant the game center is a site of chaos. Gunfire erupts and the youma takes a tumbling, leaping, roll off to one side as she leaves the arcade cabinet to attack for her, gunfire, grawing red welts on her body, with a snarl, she picks herself up, bloody and more monstrous than she was a moment ago, with metal plating replacing her skin as she takes on a much more robotic appearance that is her true form whilst the arcade machine is destroyed by Uni and elecricity is sent surging back at her courtesy of the re-awakened Josuke. She jolts, juddering for a good beat and smoldering before she gnashes her teeth.
    Because Octavia's holy magic... Sanctifying the area like that? Breaks the hold of the Dark Kingdom on the drained victims.
    Somewhere, back in the Dark Kingdom, one of the Four Heavenly Kings is cursing as his connection to such a surprisingly vast amount of energy is cut off suddenly.
    Back at the game center though, the youma sidles up to a new game and enters a CHEAT CODE.
    She repeats this process for three more arcade cabinets which... Get up. Sprout mechanized arms and legs, and turn into miniature mechas that start tromping towards the group, swinging with intent to batter and pummel.
    But what's that? Sneaking around from behind another arcade machine? Darting to hide behind another- and another- getting closer and closer to the youma-- a twin-tailed blonde in a sailor suited outfit.
    It's Sailor Moon!
    Sneaky as a trainwreck, it's only by virtue of the chaos at hand that she manages to get behind the mechical youma. And in her hands is...
    An aluminum folding chair.
    It is with this folding chair that she slams down on the youma's head as hard as she can with a resounding WHAM.
    "How DARE you use young people's entertainment against them for your nefarious ways! In the name of the Moon I'll--..."
    ...
    "... Are you unonscious?"
    "RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGHHHH!" The youma replies, getting up after a beat.
    "E-EEEEEEEEE!" Sailor Moon squeals, backing off fast.

    This time, Octavia is focused and on her guard - and with the blanket of holy magic over the area, feeling peppy as ever. "Turning those machines to the attack won't help you a second time!" The black-haired noblegirl whips her blade through the air in an intricate dance of magic, drawing forth a series of runes that comes out quickly - and when she swings her blade, they explode outward into a hail of lances, a brief horizontal barrage of projectiles formed from pure holy mana. She's about to follow up when...

    ...What is Sailor Moon doing?!

    Oh dear.

    Dante gets zapped hard by a cable. "Augh! Shit!" He tries to pull on a cable as it snags on his wrist, trying to tear it free. He shoots at one of the machines as well, it's a shame but it has to be done. "Makin' me trash some of my favorite games too, you really are pure evil!" He says, dropkicking one of the cabinets in the screen.

    Enter Sailor Moon.

    "Huh. So that's the Sailor kid."

    Uni grunts and drops to a knee once the cables shut down. She smokes from the charge, and stays down just a little longer than necessary.

    Long enough that one of the Cabinet-mechs gets a good smack on her and sends her sprawling, after getting slammed through a different cabinet.

    The CPU Candidate hauls herself out of the wreckage, just in time to see Sailor Moon smack th youma with a chair... "Well... that worked, kinda?" she groans, dismissing her pistols and summoning a bullpup rifle, leaping into action to jam the weapon in between plates, and unloading a burst of fire-aspected energy bolts into the monster.

    Josuke's energy is returning, thanks to that holy sanctification of the area. He stands up slowly, wobbling a bit -- there isn't time for him to wait to act until he gets it all back. Particularly not when there are suddenly three arcade cabinet mecha stomping around!

    Fortunately Sailor Moon shows up! But... yeah, that's a little bad there. Josuke sighs. She does come off very much like a rookie hero, so he can't judge her too harshly. And at least she cares enough to try! Hopefully she'll get braver and more coordinated after she's been doing this a while!

    Josuke is not about to steal her thunder. No, she needs to learn, and to learn, she needs to do! But he's also not going to leave her to her own devices.

    Immediate threat to his own life is the arcade mecha. So he sends Crazy Diamond after the nearest one, and the Stand unleashes a flurry of superspeed punches, with its signature loud, droning, "DORARARARARARARARARARA!" This is sure to knock loose some chunks of material.

    One of these chunks he picks up himself, and lobs at the youma with all his own might! It's not going to hurt the youma, most likely. But it might distract it long enough for Sailor Moon to get her bearings and come back at the thing.

    Yep. That's the Sailor kid. The one that's running away squealing as she's getting chased by the youma around the arcade. But between holy lances, a mighty half-devil dropkick, and Uni's close range assault, the arcade mechas are handily destroyed. While Josuke's stand starts punching one to pieces in a flurry of plastic, metal, and circuitry at the armor plated monster woman.
    "What the HELL?!" She demands. It sure is a distraction-- one that has her attention long enough for Sailor Moon to swing back around with the chair in hand.
    -WHAM!-
    And really dent it this time.
    "... I didn't know I could hit one so hard." The senshi says, balking.
    Just as a little black cat comes trotting into the scene.
    "Now's your chance! Hit the youma with everything you have!" Luna calls out to the others while the monster woman looks handily stunned.

    Once Dante's done prying his foot from the arcade cabinet's remains, he sights down the Youma with his guns. "No need to tell me twice, kitty cat." He says, without pause as he opens fire with a hailstorm of bullets. Magically augmented .45 ACP can do a lot of damage, needless to say. If these Youma are anything like the demons he kills, this won't be an issue. Except for the Youma, she's screwed.

    "You've drained your last life!" Uni says, kicking the mechamonster aside, and unlatching the barrel of her rifle. The weapon transforms and splits into a railgun, a blue energy ball forming at the base of the emitter. "I trust this all to Brave. Lend me your strength." The ball expands, then lances out at the Youma. "BRAVE CANNON!"

    Once the arcade mechas are dealt with, Josuke looks to see how Usagi's doing with the youma. "Ha!" he declares, once he notices the youma is stunned. And as the others prepare to finish off the youma, he...

    ...Sends Crazy Diamond to try to restrain it! The youma is stunned, but for how long? Probably long enough for one of those here to take her out, sure. But he's not taking any chances. But he's also not stupid enough to get in the way of the others' attacks, even with just his Stand!

    So what he does is, he runs closer, since his Stand is short-range. Once he's in range, the Stand drops down, into a slide, and grabs at the metal woman's ankles with its iron grip. The intent, obviously, being to hold the youma down while the others finish it off.

    A magical superheroine. Beating a monster with a chair. It really is bad that Octavia is so easily bewildered on the battlefield, but she just... she can't help it.

    Luna jars her attention back to reality, and she gives the talking cat a single, sharp nod before sweeping Hauteclere up. The runes she draws sit higher above the ground then normal, her stance almost formal; the tip of her sword dances and darts in careful, controlled flicks, quickly inscribing a word of arcane might in the air. The spell complete, she whips Hauteclere up in front of her face, held vertical-

    "You'll forgive me if I don't shout the name of this magic; I'd prefer to let my spellcraft speak for itself!"

    -and then sweeps it downward, as if a conductor before an orchestra. The words explode into what almost looks like a ball of holy fire, hurtling itself downward towards the youma's feet... and then exploding into a column of gold-white light, straight upward from directly underneath.

    Another slam over the head with the chair for good measure and Sailor Moon takes a tumbling roll out of the way as the others just... open up on the monster.
    In comes Crazy Diamond, grappling the she-demon by the ankles.
    "Wh-what?! Let me go!" The youma shrieks, unable to pull herself free as Dante unloads into her, high caliber rounds punching through her armor, Uni's high powered cannon slamming her dead center of the chest makes the monstrous woman jerk where she stands before collapsing to her knees, smoldering... Only to be evaporated, shrieking, in a pillar of holy light.
    When all is said and done, all that's left are a few broken down arcade machines, and a notable pile of ashes where the youma was.
    "Phew..." Sailor Moon says, dropping her folding chair with a clatter. "Wow am I glad that's over. That was still super scary." Huff!

    Twirling his pistols, Dante stows the guns and nods to Usagi. "That's that. Shame about the machines." He says, miming removing his hat as he mourns the loss of Super Turbo 2, Afterburner, and Time Crisis. RIP in pepperoni, indeed.

    There's a quick, flourishing salute from Octavia, a duelist's obligatory respect to a bested opponent; and then she returns her blade to its sheath.

    And levels a finger straight at Sailor Moon. "You really need to get it together, you know. This world's people are looking to you for inspiration and hope! You have an obligation to live up to that image. I'm certain you can do better than flailing about with a collapsible chair."

    Harrumph.

    Uni drops to a knee, huffing for breath. Her gun extends a pair of vents, and jets out steam as it returns to 'normal' mode. The vents then click back in and the rifle vanishes into Inventory again. She takes a few moments to collect herself, then stands up, silently walks over to Sailor Moon and echos Octavia's sentiments. "That was reckless, dangerous and idiotic. Pull yourself together or you'll never amount to anything more than a thug with a pretty face." she says with a coldness most here have never heard from her. "Take it from me, I had to learn it the hard way. You want to save people? Suck it up and do it right."

    Josuke is definitely going to direct his Stand to let go when Octavia's magic lands at the feet of the youma. Crazy Diamond dematerializes then, but it's too late for the youma by then. There's a pile of ash there, and Josuke sighs in relief. "Whew... we did it," he sighs. And of course, the first thing he does when he straightens? He looks up, asking of the assembled people, "Is everybody okay?"

    Dante's words get a nod. "I could try to fix them, but since they were responsible for what was going on, that might be a bad idea," he notes. "They might go back to draining energy. Though I might be able to just fix the exteriors, so it looks like they just malfunctioned..."

    He pauses then, frowning a bit at Octavia's words. She's right, but... well. "This world seems like it's a lot like mine. If that's the case, then she probably was just a regular person and all this got dropped in her lap," he points out. "That's what happened with me. I didn't think I was gonna be expected to protect my town from serial killers and some evil vampire's minions. So... yeah, it's gonna take her some time to... to figure things out, I guess."

    Though he does look to Usagi. "But she's right, you really do need to make an effort to get better," he agrees, keeping his voice calm and encouraging. "I know it's hard to wrap your brain around all this, and it's hard for them to know the feeling of being dropped into the deep end, since they're already past this stage and they forgot how it feels. Or maybe they just never knew. But this is probably not gonna just go away one day if you just play along."

    He pauses then, to look at the probably still-unconscious people. "And these people don't stand a chance against whatever those things were, or the one who's leading them." Looking back to Usagi, Josuke offers, "You're really the only one in this world who can. I'm not gonna say you 'owe' these people. But do you want 'em to end up like this forever?"

    Alas, a shame about the arcade games indeed. But if Josuke does repair them, he'll find that whatever nefarious means they had for draining energy is no longer in place. Regardless, there is the matter of the sailor senshi in the room.
    "Wh-- I wasn't flailing!" Sailor Moon defends herself. "You have to give me some credit, it's not like I ran away crying! ... This time!" She starts... Bickering with Octavia and Uni right then and there.
    That's when she points a finger right at Josuke.
    "That's right! That's exactly what happened! One day I was just walking to school and the next thing I know this cat--" She says jerking fingers at Luna; "-- is telling me I'm destined to be some hero in a sailor suit!"
    Huff! Huff...
    But then she looks to the unconscious arcade goers at Josuke's indication, with tears welling in her eyes. "Well no I just... I'm in over my head here..."
    And that's when the music starts. It's a cheery 8-bit chiptune beat as the arcade doors open and a pair of clerks that were out for the day enter, wheeling in a new arcade cabinet.
    "Heeeeey Motoki, where do you want the new Sailor Moon game?" ... "Uhhhhh" They pause on seeing the remnants of the chaos.
    But wow does Sailor Moon jolt back upright.
    "OH MAN THEY ALREADY MADE A GAME ABOUT ME?!"

    Uni frowns. "And I was born from the faith of the people of Lastation, dropped into the thick of things and told 'get on with it'. That's what it means to be special. You're expected to be /better/m than others. Smarter. Faster. Stronger. Braver." she shakes her head, turning away and heading for the door, when it opens to two guys bringing in new cabinets. "Call an ambulance... these people will need medical attention, or at least someone to check them for any major harm." she looks back at the Senshi squeaks out. "They have her to thank for not being dead right now." she adds, before passing them and heading off down the street.

    Octavia's eyes dart quickly to Josuke when the taller boy speaks; her expression is stern at first... but then softens just a bit as what he's suggesting sinks in. "...dropped in her lap..." Mmmn. "...I suppose she's entitled to some leeway, if that is the case."

    She rounds on Usagi again, however, and while there is less strictness in her tone... "Nevertheless! You're to be commended for gaining courage so quickly, but courage alone will not win the day. Remember that lives hinge on your every decision, and if you launch into every battle in an unthinking panic-"

    Sailor Moon... game?

    Octavia blinks owlishly. That's enough to derail her rant entirely.

    "Eh." Dante shrugs. "I was born to a demon daddy. I basically turned out to be a damn good demon hunter at that." He says, stowing his guns. He lets the others lecture Usagi, as he dusts himself off. "Just gotta find your brave side, or your dumb side. Either or worked for me when I was a kid." He grins cheekily.

    Then there's a game wheeled in. Dante very quickly mvoes out of sight for the clerks, "-Huh.- Don't you need likeness rights for that?"

    Josuke nods to Sailor Moon. "Yeah, I had a feeling. You might be able to start with learning how to fight better," he suggests. "There are lots of places on the World Tree that you could find someone help you learn!" He doesn't exactly have a 'fighting style' per se, so he's not going to be much help there.

    And he also nods to Octavia. "Yeah, that's why I'm not really inclined to yell at her, even if she really does need to get better," he agrees, at the mention of leeway. "Sometimes it takes people a while to settle into this kind of thing."

    He pauses, though, as the door opens and more people come in. "Oh, uh..." He hesitates. "Just had some of the new machines short-circuit, sorry!" he offers with a broad smile. There's the chirpy happiness. Even if there's a bead of sweat at his temple now... "I think everyone's okay, just knocked around a little. I'm not sure where the machine goes, let me see if I can..." He'll try to wake Motoki up. Halp, person who works here!