Having a paranoid founder might be fun! Hope she has a nice basement to hide in, and I think the dogs are a good idea. No one can be paranoid about a dog (except maybe big dogs that live down the street from you and bark whenever you approach).
It's a ton of fun so far! Maybe just because I love playing with new traits, and I also love basements, so I can get a passive happy moodlet all the time since I keep her in the basement, haha.
Chapter 2: The New Normal
Where were we? Ah, right, the night our scary visitor came by. Don’t worry, he didn’t get in, and he didn’t come back. I’ll have to look into that and find out what he was doing here. I didn’t catch a whiff of anything exciting in the observatory, so I came in to give Yuka some love and check in with Miko.
She’s really great. I couldn’t ask for a better friend. She’s been painting up a storm, and has even become a minor celebrity! I was shocked, but apparently she’s really found her calling with painting. She keeps talking about how she’s evoking feelings in others through this new medium and really making a difference. People are paying attention to what she has to say now, which is really cool.
We have to be careful, though. Too much attention could be a bad thing.
Darling has kept her nose to the grindstone even still. I told her she could take a break, but she doesn’t seem to want to. All she does is her homework, go to school, and woodwork. I’d feel sorry for her if it wasn’t what she’d chosen to do. She’s a bit quiet, but what little she has said has been in relation to the cause. She wants to do everything she can to help take down this conspiracy I’m working on.
At least, that’s what she says. I’m not sure I trust her still…
The next day, I finally dragged myself out of the house to go meet some people. See, I’m trying to complete Friend of the World as fast as I can so I can buy connections—it’s not
my aspiration, but it is a free one, and it’s much faster than the two I have. What can I say, though? I love dogs, I love learning and new experiences, so the two I’ve got are good picks for me.
You’d be surprised by what a paparazzi has to say. No one really talks to them, for one, so they’re really easy to get going. For two, apparently this woman has heard about people acting…well, strangely, in Strangerville. She said they walk really weird and they talk funny, but that was all she knew.
It’s enough, for now. I’m going to have to do some more digging into this. One of my tasks is to put a temporary stop to the activity in Strangerville, so at least I’ve got a head start on finding out what I need to be doing.[/i]
After the paparazzi, I met these two…guys. They’re weird, but so am I? I don’t know. It could be the makings of a good friendship, but I swear I saw them whispering on my way out, and I don’t know what about. They think we’re friends, anyway, but I don’t trust them.
I don’t trust anyone, not really. Except for Miko.
Lucky girl, isn’t she? Getting kisses from Rover. I’m a little jealous, I’ll admit it. I was gone from the house all day and I came back to find them piled on top of her, giving her all the affection that should rightly be mine. I’m just kidding, there’s plenty to share, but still. I’m their dog mom, aren’t I? Show some loyalty.
Oh, Yuka’s in heat, too. She’s been bouncing around the house, exuding hearts literally everywhere, and she won’t leave Rover alone for two seconds, I swear. But no puppies in this house, no matter how heartbreaking it is to tell her no when she makes that sweet face. I could have sworn she was spayed, but I guess I’ll have to take her back to the vet and find out there.
Yeah, so, this was awkward. I stumbled into the kitchen for a midnight snack to find Akira cooking. He’s been working really hard to max cooking and gourmet cooking, and he was really sweet and offered to make me something since I was up and hungry.
…I grabbed some chips and ran back down to the basement, which is all mine, by the way. No one else is allowed down there, so I think he might have called after me, but I’m not sure because I was almost in my office by the time I heard anything. And I was too chicken to come back and find out.
Don’t laugh at me. I don’t hang out with a lot of cute guys, so I’m not used to it. I’m sure in a few days I’ll have forgotten all about his dreamy eyes and can focus on what’s important again. For now, I think I’m just going to avoid him.
I headed back out on the town after my snack to make some more friends, and boy did I regret that at first. I think this girl knows something, or knows someone who knows something. She was staring at me very strangely and asked a lot of questions about me being ‘new’—we were in San Myshuno, I am not new there—and where I was staying and what I was doing. I mean, I guess those could be regular questions a person asks when they’re trying to make a friend, but doesn’t it seem a little suspicious?
I got a bad vibe off her, though, so I got the heck out of there!
Eliza is my kind of girl, though. I maxed charisma while I was talking to her, so that was really cool, and she didn’t mind listening to me talk about computers for hours. I think she’s just a bit of a social butterfly and likes to be included in things? I’m not sure. She was very nice, and I didn’t feel like there was anything off about her. I’ll put her on the guest list for my party’s, anyway, and see how that goes.
Oh come on, you saw this coming, right? Miko and I were really already best friends, we just made it official. Really, there was no other choice for who to be my best friend. I mean, she moved out of her apartment to come live with me in Newcrest and try to solve a master mind conspiracy theory. She isn’t your average, run of the mill friend, and I won’t hear another word about it. I love that girl.
Yawn, am I right? Math may be a favorite of mine, but chess is decidedly not. There’s not enough control in the game for me, there’s just a bit too much left up to chance. I’d much rather be out in the conservatory to build my logic, because I’ll need it for my requirements, but it was so cold out there that there was no way I wouldn’t freeze myself to death if I went out. Oh, hey, you can see a little more of my office, too! Don’t mind all the loose papers scattered about, those…are not important. Yeah. Moving on.
Miko continues to amaze me. Even though she was feeling really bad, she still took the time to give Rover a bath. Did I tell you he ran away? It was awful. I’m trying to make sure to give him a solid hour of attention every day from now on, so he doesn’t feel neglected. He really is a sweet boy, even if he is constantly getting into trouble.[/i]
Okay, I couldn’t help but snatch this image once I saw it on the hovercam’s hard drive. Isn’t he just ridiculous? Building a snowman, of all things. He’s been working so hard, cooking all day long, that he needed to take a little break. I just think it’s kind of cute.
In a totally platonic way, of course.
And at last, I stroll purposefully into my basement office to get some work done. Phew, I feel like I haven’t been able to sit down and really dig into this conspiracy yet. Things have been so hectic, trying to get this list of things done. I need to take another look at the list, too, and make sure I’m doing everything right.
Sorry, I can’t show you my screen for this. I’ll give you the low down on what I dug up, but that kind of window isn’t exactly supposed to be public knowledge. I could get in a lot of trouble if anyone found out who I really am, and you might have noticed I haven’t posted my normal handle on here. That’s because I’m using a throwaway account to post this.
Anyway, so here’s what I found out. It took a lot of digging for not much of a payoff, mostly I just confirmed what the paparazzi lady told me. Some people have caught videos of the people walking around in Strangerville, and I don’t know what to call them other than zombies. I mean, they’re probably not zombies…but government experiments and freaky people? Sounds like zombies to me.
I don’t know how I’m going to take down an infection like that all on my own. Well, I guess I won’t be on my own. I will for the first part, though. When I first walk into Strangerville, I’ll be entirely alone.
All right, maybe I was wrong about Darling. We had a nice chat while she was working on her homework, about everything that’s going on. Apparently she’s felt a little adrift lately, as she’s only just a teenager and starting to figure out who she really is, and she’s been lacking a purpose. I guess this…whatever you want to call it, it’s giving her a purpose. I understand that. It’s how I got into hacking in the first place.
Akira maxed cooking and gourmet cooking, of course. The guy’s really awesome, as much as I want to try and find a fault with him. He’s great with the dogs, he helps Darling out with her homework all the time, and according to Miko he’s a great person to talk to. I wouldn’t really know, because like I said, I’ve been avoiding him.
Well, mostly avoiding him. We’ll get to that in a minute.
This is what really broke me lately. This is the moment where I discovered that Yuka can’t be my companion. I just…we’re absolutely mad for each other, the best owner and dog pair you could ever find, but the option isn’t there at all. I hadn’t been able to tell her to stop doing things like drinking puddles or barking before, but I just…I tried to ignore it, you know? I couldn’t ignore this, though. I’m going to try and find a way to fix this, but I’m scared Yuka will never be my companion.
Rover does know how to make me feel better. Heh. He became my companion no problem at all. And yep, you can see Yuka lapping at the puddles even now. Rover’s learning what not to do really well, he doesn’t always listen the first time but he’s getting it when I’m patient and work with him on it. He’s a sweet boy, he really is.
Right, so, avoiding Akira. It didn’t go as well as I planned. He caught me coming out of the kitchen, I don’t know if he was waiting for me or not, but he said we needed to talk. Sounds scary, right? I about panicked on the spot, and I really did look at the doors for a second to see if there was an escape available. I tell you, the thoughts running through my head just then…well, they sounded paranoid even to me, so that should tell you something.
The gist of it is, basically he was worried I was uncomfortable with him in the house. I couldn’t tell him his dreamy eyes were making it difficult for me to focus on the task at hand, though, so I said everything was fine. I don’t think he believed me…and the look he gave me was anything but innocent at the end of the night, when I got up to leave.
Oh, dear. I’m going to have to watch myself carefully. I mean, yeah, I need to bring in the next generation, and Akira definitely is a great guy with good looks, and he already knows about the conspiracy and is ready and able to help.
Um. That’s a lot of pros, and I can’t remember a single con. Help, I might be falling for a really good guy! This is going to end badly, I just know it.
