#thanks so much for liking my starter call!

[howthesleeplesswander]

starter for @fearbend​

“Your technique is impressive! I can’t say I’ve ever met anyone brave enough to wield Pyro and Electro at once before.” Enthusiasm laced Childe’s tone, that which only heightened when a quick once-over of the girl revealed no Vision or Delusion to be found. Well, well, what have we here?

What kind of person could wield the elements without the aid of an Archon’s blessing or the Fatui’s counterfeits? Instantly the Traveler came to mind—a being from another world, something beyond human. Naturally, the question then became: was she as powerful, too?

“Though, I can’t help but wonder...” Head tilting, a congenial grin distracted from the intrigue in dull eyes. “How are you able to do that without a Vision?” 

[wisheswagered]

Frederick hasn't been at this manor for nearly as long as the others. Though it feels like it's been an eternity to him, it means that he's still getting to know the other survivors who've found themselves trapped in this place.

And Emma Woods... is one of those people. It's such a bizarre feeling, seeing her now. While he'd never known her in life, he had heard of her - as a girl who went missing in mysterious circumstances several years ago, her life sensationalized and her disappearance treated as an unsolvable mystery by those who knew of her.

Never would he have dreamed he'd ever end up joining her among the ranks of the missing. ...He wonders if they're looking for him, too. They must be - while not for the reasons he wants, Frederick Kreiburg is a well-known name among the higher classes, and yet... that fact brings him no comfort at all.

Regardless. It's cruel of him, but the one thing that strikes him as he looks at her now is what he knows of her past. Knowing she's been a patient at an asylum for so much of her life... to be quite honest, it chills him to the bone. The reason for that discomfort is difficult to identify - or maybe, deep down, it's something that he simply doesn't want to acknowledge.

Today, though... there's only one question on his mind. Though he doesn't know if it's curiosity or paranoia that drives him to ask.

"Tell me. Why did you approach me, of all people, for this?"

@mlssamericana ( starter for emma! )

[folkorae]

@patetpluvia liked for a starter !

The girl was drinking some soda while taking a small break in her own company ; Shiemi did not hear when the other approached. And almost made the poor girl jump back. " O-OH ! I'm sorry I didn't hear you ! " Shiemi says with an apologetic tone.

[cloudpools]

⚜ @chaosmicjelly liked for a starter! (From Holly)

"Hey! Stop!" Holly was giving chase to the small gelatinous creature that was her current mission. Luca had said it was important that this particular enemy was dealt with quickly... But in his classic fashion, he'd kept the details vague. Once transformed into her alter-ego Iris, she'd quickly found herself face-to-face with Perrine... But it was hard to think something so cute was dangerous? Normally her enemies consisted of disgusting monsters or evil humans using awful powers... But this was...

"I just want to talk! I won't hurt you!" Not yet at least. Holly's reflexes and strength were tenfold in her Iris persona, and she had her magical scepter in hand just in case anything went wrong. But it felt wrong to take out something so cute... Maybe Luca had gotten it wrong?

[ichorsflood]

Ugh. This sucks.

When she'd first heard about the trip, Neptune had thought maybe it wouldn't be so bad. A visit to a city full of museums... well, it's not really her thing, but she can think of places that'd be a lot worse, so. Take what you can get, right?

But through some stroke of bad luck, both Venus and Jupiter ended up sick. So now here she is, stuck on her own with a bunch of shitty teachers, boring classmates, and Jesus somehow shoehorned into every conversation. Great.

At the very least, having a moment to herself like this is a blessing. ...She hopes Venus and Jupiter are doing okay. It's their own fault for working so hard lately, but. Still.

Neptune had decided to sit down for a drink, but the cafe she's found herself in is surprisingly busy. Suppressing the urge to sigh, and holding back a cough tickling her throat, she eventually chooses a random table with only one other occupant in the back.

"Hey. Mind if I sit here?"

@dnangelic

[peacebringing]

Frankly: Vash hadn't gone through all that life has to grant. Thus, whenever a bar has a long menu, chockful of words he hadn't seen, sentences he couldn't pronounce, his tongue felt knotted. Most taverns had two options of beverage, tinted tap and a potent beer that burned his throat, and one offering of food... sandwiches. Sandwiches were a first choice most times, Vash able to stack his ceiling-high with a pocketful of coins in spite. But... none of these names had -sub or -wich in the title.

A sluggish hand hovered just above a shoulder, one pace ahead of him -- not quite touching, not quite not, but enough to allude to his presence... cough cough, in case the hand wasn't enough.

“Ex-- excuse me,” a smile that didn't go to his ears, a smile haphazardly thrown on, tilted in all the wrong ways but innocently so, mistakenly so. “Can you... help me order? I'm sorry, I've just -- never been to a city this large before.” There were reasons for thus, but Vash needn't indulge them. “I can make out the names, but I ... don't know what they are. Or, well... I can't make out the names, and that's why I'm - sorry.”

Head ducked, Vash prepared himself to blindly ask for this, that.

“I... can probably figure it out, myself. Just thought I'd ask.”

@filiasiderum.

[ofhope]

“So uh, question...”

Picking at a stray scab, Kanji opts to look anyplace else. Why, despite being instilled into every which person from birth, was asking for — anything such a hassle? Suppose it was the delicacy, how fast the subject could break when given to another person. All of this? Had to be found out on his own, through hearsay and fleeting newspaper passages. Online got him nowhere, purposefully: Kanji preferred the words, the face-to-face interaction. However, when faced with sincerity, perhaps anonymity was - truly - the right route.

This was stupid.

“How bad's a tattoo hurt? 'm no stranger to pain, but I've heard it stings the shit outta' your arm. I gotta use that to work, so... if I'm out a day or two of work, I wanna' schedule ahead of time.”

@dumbthink!

[cffidelityy]

@lunarrepel || liked for a starter

It had not gone unnoticed that Shadowheart had grown more distant with those in camp, and well Sigyn couldn't blame her. Sigyn knew she was going through so much, but wasn't quite sure how to help. She had hoped with time that the half-elf would come back around, but something about her still worried Sigyn, so the blonde moved to take a seat beside her at the other woman's tent. "Hey. . ." She says quietly, searching her brain for the right words. "I just want you to know. . . If you wanna talk, I'll listen."

[revengesworn]

Senju doesn't know much about Ryusei Sato, but the one thing she does know - is that he's close to one Baji Keisuke. That alone is enough to catch her interest. While Senju herself suspects she's never someone Baji would call a childhood friend in the same way as he would Haruchiyo and Mikey, she still knew him in his childhood, and he was someone she always looked up to; always trying to reach...

She still thinks about him sometimes. And because of that, she's interested in the people that Baji calls his friends, too.

Obviously, that's not enough reason to just approach Ryusei out of the blue, but... she is curious about the rumors she's heard - of his connections to the gang Yotsuya Kaiden specifically. Apparently, he left that gang in order to join Toman in the past... and for some reason that even she can't quite identify - part of her wants to know why.

But running into him here really was a coincidence. And it's impulse that gets her to talk to him, approaching him boldly and asking with a glint in her eyes-

"Hey. You're Baji's friend, aren't you?"

@protectivemuses ( starter for ryusei! )

[ristorantebar]

"kinda crazy to think about the fact that we're literally inside a key inside a turtle, huh?" mista leans back against one of the sofas, though he's sitting on the floor anyways. (who needs proper posture?) all the while, he looks to narancia.

"hey, are you feeling any better after that whole grateful dead thing? you look a lot better... a lot more, uh, hair and teeth. thank god. that was really giving me the creeps." though his concern for narancia is real, mista has his own ways of expressing it, that's for sure.

@redlineoffate ♡'d for a starter!

[dialsdrnk]

@clearwinged liked for a starter from scotty !

" hey. " there's something about an empty parking lot to really make your voice boom, huh? it makes a man like scotty — who has a softer, edgeless cadence unless he puts that edge in there with intention— flinch when his voice bounces back to him, even if just for a second. there's a quick recovery as far as his expression goes, the shock so momentary that his facial features return to what they'd been previously: resting easy on the fence between pensive and concerned. one might call him anxious, even — a little riled up. his fingers twitch at his sides and he looks around the endless lot like he's worried someone's coming after him, but he's actually the one scanning. "... uh — you seen a kitty cat? 'bout... this big." cue scotty making a vague estimate with his hands in front of his chest; nevermind the blood on his hand, either; or the wobble to his step, for that matter. scotty asks his company this, half-expecting the other man to walk away and starting to peer under what few cars are in the lot for said cat. "'s cold, man. i don't wanna leave 'er out 'ere..."

... it's not his cat. he's pretty sure he followed it from the junkyard, actually.

[wisheswagered]

Anne knows better than to trust this man.

She knows better, but... there's something about him. It's not just his face - the same one she's seen in her nightmares-turned-hallucinations, achingly familiar and yet just out of reach from recognition... No, she feels like something in her wants to be there for him. Something in her trusts him, and it's bitterly that she forces herself to remember her truth - no adults can be trusted.

She won't be betrayed again. It's not like there aren't good people in the world, Anne knows... or maybe that's not the case, and everyone really is a monster? It doesn't really matter, you see, because there's no way to know for sure - so she'll protect herself by staying distant from them all. Anne is no longer a puppet to be used and thrown away - no, she's a toy with wooden wings, flying free; far away from those who would want to hurt her.

"Welcome!" she says with a smile. It's the same smile as ever, a friendly and warm one, a smile that speaks - 'I'm harmless', it says, 'and I trust you, really, I do.' At the very least, she's happy to have a visitor to her store, one who might see her beloved toys and adore them, even if she'd rather they go to a child in need.

"I've never seen your face here before. I do hope you enjoy my little store."

@celestiialnotes ( starter! )

[voidfell]

Starter Call but specifically for the muses I have Awake(tm) Currently: Holt Hyde, Sonic the Hedgehog, Surge the Tenrec, Adrien Agreste, Plagg, Felix Damery.

[strayslost]

Sigma didn't know that his feelings on a person could change so wildly over the course of only ten or so minutes. Dazai is... almost impossible for him to comprehend.

He was so sure that the man only intended to use him, and truth be told, he still doesn't think he's entirely wrong in that assessment. Dazai is a wickedly clever man, one who knows how to make a chess piece out of everyone he meets, and certainly not someone Sigma should ever underestimate. But even so... why can't Sigma hate him?

Is it because Dazai saved his life? ...What a foolish reason. He only needed Sigma to save that agency of his, nothing more. But... Dazai nearly sacrificed his own life to do it. In the end, in spite of everything, he had something - someone, who he was willing to give up everything for, despite the fact that if he died he'd get nothing in return. Maybe that's why Sigma is so drawn to him. He wants to know more- about that kind of desire. Because Dazai isn't stupid - he's the smartest man Sigma knows, and yet he'd decided that trusting in others was worth it...

There's far more to thoughts than just that, but right now, Sigma's head is racing enough already. Most of all, though - when he looks at Dazai, he can't help but feel an overwhelming sense of shame. He wishes he didn't... he knows he might be being used again, fooled again, and yet- he can't help but hate that he let Dazai down.

"Dazai... why are you here...?"

@hopesprung ( starter for dazai! )

[celestialheal-arch]

it's honestly more curiosity than a desire to help, what leads her to ask. she's always been perceptive of others' pain, even before she took her oath and she has seen the way shadowheart flexes her hand almost involuntarily in her idle moments. and thing is, nienna has seen her in action, her skill as a cleric is nothing if not impressive; hells, she may actually be a better healer than herself, but then... why is it she's not healing whatever is hurting her?

they just got back from their latest expedition and the warlock can see the way she's flexing her hand again. without a second thought, she raises to her feet and finds herself walking towards the cleric. ❝ would you like me to take a look? something's clearly bothering that hand of yours. ❞

@nerimoi liked for a starter.

[mvrderbot]

@light-imperfected​ // event sc.

       this had already gotten farther than murderbot had wanted it to; despite its precautions and experience in dealing with a situation like this, it must have had contact with some of the spores. its’ performance reliability had fallen by ten percent in the last two hours - and that was all without being shot at. pain kept flashing across all of its’ sensors and diagnostic programs, and even though it had turned down its’ ability to actually feel the influx of sensory data, it wasn’t able to entirely dissociate from it for very long. it had managed to keep quiet, though - until one of its drones was able to spot some sort of ( construct? ) approaching. performance reliability dropping to 87.3%.

        lifting its visor, murderbot tried to keep a level and calm voice when it spoke. “ be careful. i’m - contaminated. “ despite its best attempts, it winced - it could feel the plants practically trying to drag more out of it. when it opened its eyes again, it looked the stranger over - analyzing the other’s appearance. ah. so he had been exposed to these plants, too, judging by the flowers. that eased at least a little of its guilt. “ ... my name is murderbot. ” it froze, face turning pale and performance reliability dropping further. it only let a rare few know that name, and the fact that it had just offered that up unprompted made it feel ill.