False Dendrite Quest 182

>>brag about how my sexy girlfriend cooked us early dinner

>brag about how my sexy girlfriend cooked us early dinner

Doesn't Allison usually wait for the snappy jabs? She seems kinda basic if she opens with an insult, and as we know only Char is allowed to be a total bitch when insulting her sister.

>>brag about new cactus

>writing

>>brag about new cactus

Geez guys, don't be plebs. She already knows about our awesome cat girlfriend.

I curl an arm around Charlotte's waist and pull her into view.

"If you're gonna be like that then MAYBE I shouldn't let you eat any of the food that my beautiful girlfriend cooked for us," I say, leaning my head against her shoulder.
"H- hello..." Charlotte squeaks out.
"Wait, what?" Allison stops at the top of the front steps and drops her messenger bag. "CHARLOTTE cooked something?"
"Chicken pot pie," I say, puffing out my chest with pride. "Under Mom's direction so you know it's gonna be good."
"I'm not entirely confident about that," Charlotte mumbles, "but I did try my best..."

Allison continues to stare at her in utter amazement.

"Wow, I didn't even expect that a rich girl like you even knew -how- to cook..." she laughs. "No offense, but you always struck me as the 'fancy restaurants and personal chefs' type."
"I normally am," Charlotte replies, "but I happened to lose a bet yesterday and then Cecile decided to announce this fact to your mother and that snowballed into me cooking dinner for your entire family. Plus Irene."
"Heh, sounds like a lot of work," Allison smiles. "Fun though, right?"
"I guess..."

Charlotte looks down at the floor.

>join in the teasing fun
>filling my stomach takes precedence

>>filling my stomach takes precedence

>filling my stomach takes precedence

>writing

"You got here just in time to eat," I say, moving aside so that Allison can enter the house. "Charlotte says that they're just about done cooking so let's not waste time."
"What a glutton," Allison laughs.

And as she passes me, she pokes at my stomach with her finger.

"You better watch out," she says with a wide grin, "eat too much and you'll end up a fattie."
"Cut it out," I growl, batting away her hand.

>defend myself against these baseless accusations
>ask the charlotte to defend me against these baseless accusations
>call for help against these baseless accusations
>[OTHER]

>>ask the charlotte to defend me against these baseless accusations
You mean
>Invite Charlotte to join the teasing.
right?

>>defend myself against these baseless accusations

>defend myself against these baseless accusations

>defend myself against these baseless accusations

>defend myself against these baseless accusations
>I've been jogging with Theresa.

>defend myself against these baseless accusations

>writing

"I'll have you know that I've been working out with Theresa most nights," I say. "Running WAY too freaking far and almost killing myself morning after morning."
"Yeah, I know about that," Allison replies.
"So I'm -not- gonna turn into a fatty," I say, sticking my tongue out at her. "And one day, I'll have awesome sexy abs just like Theresa."
"It's nice to have dreams... but since abs -are- hot, I'll hope for Charlotte's sake that you're able to actually pull it off some day!"

Allison strolls right past me and Charlotte while cackling like a witch. She's lucky that our parents are here, or I'd abuse my light powers to throw up some kind of horrific nightmare image as payback. But instead, I just run after her while puling Charlotte along with me.

>[1/?]

>[2/2]

"Oh, there you are," my mother says as we enter the kitchen. "I was wondering where you'd gotten to."
"I was at school-"
"Not you," she flicks Allison in the forehead. "I was talking to Charlotte."
"Sorry," Charlotte replies, "I was looking for Cecile and then we got sidetracked..."
"It's fine," she shakes her head. "But now that you're here, I think that you ought to be the one to take the food out of the oven."
"Um- okay!"

While Charlotte hurries to put on some oven mitts, my mother turns to me and Allison.

"As for the rest of you," she says, "you're in the way so I'd appreciate it if you'd go away for a few minutes."

>yes ma'am
>hey wait a minute
>[OTHER]

>>hey wait a minute
It was CC’s bet that got Charlotte to cook. CC already left quite a while to allow for mother/gf time, she cannot throw her out again!

>>yes ma'am

>yes ma'am

>yes ma'am

>writing

inb4 CC's parents die

"Yes, ma'am..."

Reluctantly, I follow Allison out of the kitchen. I would've totally helped set up for dinner, but Mom gets extra pushy when cooking is involved and there's also the matter of Embarrassing Conversations possibly coming back so it's probably for the best that I stay away until she says to come back.

So instead, I return to the living room where my father and Irene look to be finishing up their awful ninja movie. At least I'm pretty sure this is the end, seeing as how people are shooting lasers at each other now.

>how shall we pass the time?

There's probably no time to finish another awful movie, so time for some /v/idya. CC must prove she is no longer as casual as she used to be.

Whoops, didn’t see you there…

Seconding this.

This sounds good. Did we beat Kirby yet?

>writing

"Hey, Allison," Irene says, waving to us as we enter the living room. "You're back early."
"Yeah, the professor canceled my late class," Allison shrugs. "So it's back home with me."
"Well it's nice to have you around," my father says. "Having both of my daughters home at the same time is a rare treat."

And of course he's looking right at me when he says that.

"Care to partake in some classic cinema with your old man?" he says, pointing to the TV.
"For the five minutes that it'll take for Mom and Charlotte to set up, sure," Allison replies.

I fall onto the couch next to my father while Allison sits with Irene. And though both of them seem to be really into this crappy movie, I'm not all that interested.

Not to mention that I've seen this one at least eight times.

>[1/?]

>[2/2]

So instead, I reach into my pocket and bring out the game system that I've been ignoring lately. I then boot it up and load my latest save file... I still haven't beaten it yet but I think I'm pretty far now.

"Hm?" Daddy glances at my hands. "Whatcha got there?"
"A game," I reply.
"So Mina finally got to you after all, huh," he laughs.
"No, I got this from Gabrielle."

His eyes get so big that I can actually see them past the edges of his sunglasses.

"...Charlotte's little sister?" he asks. "With the fluffy gray hair and the cute stuffed rabbit?"
"Yup," I nod. "And it's a cat, not a rabbit."
"Huh," he nods. "So you've got both of 'em giving you presents."
"I'm just that beloved," I smirk.
"Charlotte's putting you up in her dad's hotel and sews you those dresses while her little sister buys you games... you've got quite the charmed life now, you know that?"

>how do I respond?

>how do I respond?
"I guess so… still haven’t quite gotten used to it, but we fit together better than might be expected. Gabrielle is mostly playing together with Mina and another friend, though."

Except for all the death I guess

For some reason CC still keeps that a secret.

>>how do I respond?
It has its ups and downs...

>writing

"It's, uh... it's got its ups and downs," I say. "It still seems kind of weird, but we all get along better than I would've expected."
"How -were- you expecting it to go?" my father asks.
"I dunno," I shrug, "not with random instances of 'hey Cecile, have this $200 game system just because?' I'm still not used to that..."
"Well that's a good thing, he says, ruffling my hair. "Keeps you from taking it all for granted."
"I'd never do that," I sigh.

Whoa, almost died there.

"And Gabrielle mostly plays games with Mina and another friend," I say. "I'm waaaaay below her skill level."
"Of course," my father laughs. "There's no way someone as lame as you would get good in the few months since I saw you last."

That earns him an elbow to the side.

"I'll show you how 'lame' I am," I grumble. "Just watch, I'mma beat this whole level before Mom calls us into the kitchen."
"Suuuure you will."

>gotta go fast
>gotta be careful

>gotta be careful

>>gotta be careful
Speed runs are for experts.

>>gotta go fast

>Whoa, almost died there.
Interesting.

>writing

>gotta go fast

Fuck that, I'm a complete scrub and I go fast anyway because it's entertaining, even if I get laid on my ass 9 times out of 10.

Heading off to bed.

Thanks for running Archelon.

Gabrielle a best

Alright, Cecile. I'm not one of those crazy people that Mina likes to watch blast through games in like a fraction of the normal time so there's no point in even attempting that crap. Nope, I'm just going to take this at my normal pace. Carefully.

Because my father's watching and I don't want him to think that I COMPLETELY suck.

So I just keep on like usual, hopping over enemies until I find one that has the plasma ability that I like and then blasting through everything in my path. I am SO glad that Gabrielle showed me how to properly use this thing... it's even got a shield thingy at max charge which makes things even easier for me.

"Wow, you suck a lot less than I was expecting you to," Daddy whistles.
"Be quiet, you're gonna screw up my concentration," I snap back.

>[1/?]

Cecile should learn how to mimic plasma kirby powers.

Then we'll be even better at being the sun

That said, it's a bit frustrating how Speedrunning seems to have jumped aboard the "This hurts my feelings, ban it!" hellhole known as twitch.tv .
It's not just muh SJW bogeymans, the entire website has the culture of "If person A said something and person B's feelings are hurt, ban person A".
B might be too sensitive, or overreacting, or having an emotional response to a logical point, or taking part in the bantz, or B might have made a fuckup be getting called on it, or otherwise having his emotions be "incorrect".
Nope. Ban A, every time all the time.

The "my feelings are always a valid justification for silencing someone else" culture is quite worrying to me.

>[2/2]

Not rushing seems to be paying off- I haven't even been hit more than a couple of times and I'm able to blow through a few areas. I think there's a boss around here, so-

"Dinner's ready!" my mother calls out from the kitchen.

JUST AS I'M ABOUT TO GO THROUGH THE DOOR.

"Graaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah," I moan, throwing my back and closing my game shut. "I was so close, tooooooooooo..."
"Eh, you put in a good effort," Daddy says, patting me on the shoulder. "I was expecting you to flail around and die miserably but you didn't even lose a single life."
"Told you I didn't suck."

>onwards to my lady and her delicious pie
>shoot the breeze with someone along the way

>onwards to my lady and her delicious pie
Useless vote

>shoot the breeze with someone along the way
Ok Dad. What video games do YOU play?

>>shoot the breeze with someone along the way
We certainly can beat dad by now in any game of his choice.

Your face is a useless vote

...

test

>writing

I may not have been able to fully carry out my declaration, but the progress that I -was- able to make has filled me with no small amount of confidence. And my father's taunting did kind of get on my nerves...

"Tell you what," I say to him as we get up from the couch, "I bet I'm at least good enough to beat -you- now."
"Oh?" He lowers his sunglasses. "You honestly believe that, huh."
"Yes, I do," I reply.
"Oh my sweet little baby girl," he chuckles, "you have no idea what you're getting into. Trust me when I say that you want none of what I've got," he says, flexing his giant gorilla arms.
"Try me," I taunt right back. "Any game, I'll destroy you."

As my father's pace picks up, his laughter also increases in volume.

"You said -any- game," he grins.
"Yeah, I did," I nod.
"Alright, then. You're on. Virtual On: Oratorio Tangram."
"Ora... what?"
"I obviously didn't bring my stuff back home with me, but one of these days... get ready."

>[1/?]

Better start training on mecha piloting, CC.

Gordon is a weeb!

>looooocve
hm

I am clearly going to have to talk to Mina about this one of these days and figure out what exactly the hell I've gotten myself into. But that is a matter for later. Right now, my attention is on the mouthwatering aroma that's filling the air and the delicious-looking food that's sitting on the table.

"So Charlotte's the one who made all this?" Allison says as she eyes the four pot pies that are sitting on the table."
"That's right," Mom replies, slapping her on the back. "All I did was coach her on."
"I apologize in advance if they taste awful," Charlotte mumbles.
"They at least -smell- good, so that's a start," Daddy smiles.

We all sit down at the table while my mother prepares the food. As expected, I end up seated between Irene and Charlotte while Allison and my father are on the other aide. Those two not sitting next to or across from each other should reduce the risk of anything kicking off in theory...

...but while I'm in the middle of worrying about my girlfriend's annoying habit of being a total bitch towards one of my friends, a plate is lowered in front of me.

"Here you go," Mom says. "100% filled with Charlotte's looooove~" she giggles.
"Mrs. Navarre, please," Charlotte mumbles.

As tempting as it is to chow down right now, I have the common sense not to do so until everyone else has their food as well. But the SECOND that that happens, my fork pierces the pie and goes right into my mouth.

>[2/?]

Chomp. Chomp chomp chomp chomp chew chew chew, munch munch much.

"How is it?" Charlotte asks me, her worried face inches away from my own. "Is it bad?"
"Nope," I shake my head. "'sgood."

A wave of relief washes over Charlotte, and it shows on her face. I bet she'd kiss me right now if I wasn't in the middle of shoving food into my face. And also if my parents weren't right here too.

"Thank goodness," Charlotte sighs. "I was so worried..."
"Well you didn't need to," I reply in between bites. "This's pretty great."
"It really is," Daddy chimes in.
"Yup," Allison nods.
"Mmhmm," Irene joins the consensus.
"See?" Mom laughs. "Just like I told you!"

>[3/?]

Good waifu.

>[4/4]

It isn't long before I need to get up for seconds, and not long afterwards my father does the same. Even Irene's plate is clean, though she's hesitant to get up for obvious reasons... but then my mother does so for her since she's nice like that.

I have to say, this is the kind of thing that I've missed. A happy dinner with my whole family and a couple of friends.

"Might as well..." Daddy says after downing a glass of water.
"Hm?" I turn to him. "Might as what?"
"Might as well give the good news," he says, clearing his throat.

Good news? What kind of good news?

"...Mom isn't pregnant, is she?" Allison asks, a sour look on her face.
"No I am -not- pregnant," Mom sighs. "Smartass."
"Thank God."
"So, uh... if my status as the baby isn't in jeopardy, what -is- the good news?" I ask.
"After that mess with the burglar was cleared up," he replies, "I was finally able to focus back on my actual work."
"Okay?"
"And after a bunch of phonecalls, I was able to set it up so that your mother and I can work long-distance!" he grins.
"HOLY SHIT FOR REAL!?" Allison shouts.

And then Mom smacks her for having a dirty mouth.

"It's only for a couple of weeks," she says, "but we'll at least be able to spend some time with you two in the meantime."

>how do I react?

Hugs!

Wooo, parents! Maybe suggest we celebrate somehow?

Group hug.

Quite a few posts without pre-made choices recently.

>>/qst/

Arch couldn't think of anything but hug either!

>Secretly mourn the lack of alone-time with Charlotte coming up.

Seconding that. Also the lack of magic. What are superpowers good for if you cannot use them?

>>/qst/

>writing

I hop up from my chair and run around the table to where my parents are and then I give both of them a huge hug. I was so worried that all this crap with Faceless would've eaten up all the time I had with them for this visit, but now that doesn't seem like it's a problem at all!

"Looks like someone's happy," Daddy laughs whole hugging me back.
"Of course I'm happy," I reply. "How long did you have this planned?"
"Since we got back?" Mom laughs. "But then that man broke into your room and your father got COMPLETELY sidetracked..."
"You know you could've been the one to negotiate instead of me," he smirks.
"Yeah right," she rolls her eyes. "I can't stand dealing with them in person, much less the phone."
"Well it all turned out great in the end so I'm not complaining!" I say, grinning so hard that my face is starting to hurt.

Man, this is great... my parents are never around but now I'll have them for like a full month maybe! I'll be able to eat my Mom's cooking, and beat the hell out of Daddy in that virtual whatever game...

...and I won't be able to use the catnip in my room on Charlotte... or blow off school to spend the night at her place... or openly goof off with my Branch...

But that's just a minor thing, I'm not a TOTAL hedonist! And it's not like I'll be COMPLETELY unable to mess around, it's just that my actions will be a little more restricted while they're here.

Yeah, having my entire family in one house is more than worth the tradeoff.

Cutecile is a good girl!

Don't let the Clipclop guys learn where you live, Cecile.

Lounging on the couch at her father's friend's temporary place, Gabrielle Gauthier kicks up her feet onto the ottoman and focuses on the task at hand- grinding materials for that outfit she wanted. While it's really cute and has high stats to boot, the drop rates for the things needed to make it are downright abysmal. Shary was nice enough to help her out last night while Gabrielle slept, but he was only able to get about a quarter of the total needed.

Stupid RNG. If not for the fact that RMT spits in the face of her gaming ideals, she'd just bypass this mindnumbing process entirely and actually be having fun right now. At least Shary seems to be... he's sitting next to her on the couch right now, fully engrossed in some retro RPG.

Too bad Mina or Sun-Mi aren't on right now, she could at least shoot the breeze with them in chat while doing this crap at the same time. It'd make this a lot less boring, that's for sure. As long as they didn't start going on about lesbo stuff, at least. But even though they get even more lovey-dovey than Charlotte and Cecile when in person, they seem to be strictly business online. It's admirable.

"Telephone," Shary says, speaking in Gabrielle's mind.

That's one of the nice things about having 360-degree vision- Gabrielle can check on her phone without having to take her eyes off the screen.

>[1/?]

Worry.

"Hey, Daddy," Gabrielle says after switching on the speakerphone. "What's up?
"That's what I was going to ask you," David Gauthier replies in the paternal tone of voice he reserves for his daughters. "Charlotte texted me saying that she was cooking for Cecile and her family. Why aren't you over there too?"
"Nobody asked," Gabrielle shrugs.

Not that she really felt like going anywhere today anyways.

"You know, you really ought to..." David sighs. "...never mind, how are things going with you? You feeling alright?"
"Yeah, I'm fine," Gabrielle replies. "Grinding mats right now."
"Sounds boring," he says.
"It is," she groans. "The RNG hates me, I swear."
"Why not play something else if it bugs you so much?" he asks.
"'Cuz I want my character to look just as cute as I do," she cuts back.
"At least your self-esteem's intact," he laughs. "But seriously, how are -you- doing? After that incident with Faceless, I mean."

The sudden jolt that that question causes results in half of Gabrielle's character's HP being lost to an easily- avoided attack. She has half a mind to get at him for that, but decides not to since he's just being concerned.

"I'm fine," Gabrielle mumbles.
"Are you -really- fine?" David asks. "Because from what Charlotte told me about last night-"
"I'm FINE, okay?" she shouts. "That dickface is dead and Loki's safe now so everything's fine."
"You don't sound fine."

Gabrielle's always been one to watch her language ever since her father told her that good girls don't swear back when she was six years old and took a shine to a certain technical term for children born out of wedlock, but right now she is sorely tempted.

>[2/?]

how good is this quest? Should I catch up?

Also, is it Double-Cross inspired?

It's decent enough, but it the longer it runs the longer it seems to be between any significant moments in the story.
If you liked Princess Guard it's worth checking out.

I’ve given Cecile’s potential career paths another thought. She could become a laser-etching artist. Like those glass sculptures inside a block of glass, or etchings in wood and metal. It may also be possible to photograph her creations and pretend they have been digital drawings.

It is a casual sort of fun. Nice to read along throughout pauses in the day, but I don’t consider it the gripping kind of fun that has you reading the archive in one huge session.

Fluffy, cute, kind-of shallow teenager drama and action fantasy story. With some casual murder, constant threat of death and insanity sprinkled in.

"I'm just a little bit pissed off about that dickface touching my boobs," Gabrielle mumbles. "And nobody's supposed to be able to sneak up on us but he did and the next thing I knew I was stuck in Charlotte's room and I couldn't get out even by punching."

Just remembering it is enough to throw off her normally perfect controller technique.

"And Shary was stuck outside and we were too scared to do anything since we didn't know how far his range would work with me in another room..." Gabrielle grits her teeth. "And then Charlotte got thrown through a TV and I..."
"It's okay, sweetie," David says.
"I know it's alright," she replies, "but I still hate feeling like that."

Like some weak pathetic little girl who can't do anything.

"Cecile's a total wimp and even SHE was more help back then than we were," Gabrielle says. "And I ended up looking like a baby in front of the guy I like, too."
"...so -that's- why you're so upset?" David asks.
"That's just the turd cherry on top," she groans. "So I'm just gonna sit here and play videogames until I feel better."
"...do you want to come back home?"

Those words hit Gabrielle like a punch in the face.

>[3/?]

I like it and think it's fun. Might as well check out a couple threads and see if it appeals.

The Navarres can work from afar for a while, so the whole family might go to the Gauthier home for a bit.

I’m away now, Arch. Thanks for the thread.

>[4/4]

"No!" she shouts. "I wanna stay here with Charlotte!"
"I understand that," David says, "but the number of dangerous situation that you've been caught up in really has me worried. I'm not happy about all the trouble that your sister's been in either but she's old enough to make her own choices."
"I'm not a little kid-"
"Yes, you are," he cuts back. "And if this keeps up then I'm not going to be able to just let you run around as you please."
"B- but-" Tears begin to well up in her eyes. "But I have actual FRIENDS and I like it here and Charlotte's not gonna want to go anywhere without Cecile and I don't want to be away from her and-" she sniffles. "and..."

David breathes a long, heavy sigh.

"This wasn't an ultimatum," he says. "Just a warning. I want you to keep out of trouble."
"I will," she mumbles.
"Good," he replies, "because I'd really like to avoid having anything ruin things when I come to visit in a few weeks."

Both Gabrielle and Ankerashariva drop their controllers.

"YOU ARE!?" they shout in unison.
"Well I'd like to finally meet the girl that Charlotte's so crazy about," David laughs. "And I'm also getting lonely without you two around to take my mind off business."

Now it's poor Cecile's time to meet the parent huh.

About time we met papa Gauthiere

Uh oh, time for Cecile to meet her future in-law.

>one day ago

Unable to see. Unable to move. He extends his vision through the planes of his mask and further on... further and further and further until he actually feels a strain on his mind. But regardless, all he sees is the empty black void of nothingness.

Like the abyss.

No, this will not do. His very existence is that which knows no boundaries. He has consumed another's soul to obtain this body. He has suffered a countless number of indignities to avoid capture. And even when his efforts failed, he did what was needed in order to regain his freedom. He steels his resolve, as there is nothing that he cannot escape from.

"C'est dommage," a voice whispers into his ear. "Vous êtes échappés d'abîme des âmes, mais vous n'êtes pas échappés a moi."

In an instant, that resolve crumbles and is replaced by the purest panic. The Vine's words whispered in his ears have completely broken through the facade known as "Faceless" and left only boundless desperation.

>[1/?]