The vigilante’s hand remained on his neck, rubbing it every so often as the conversation continued. Shay’s points were solid, and it wasn’t like there was much reason to go against them. He had spent three months holed up in this place, so no doubt he dug up all the information necessary to make a profit.
Hikaru also brought up a valid point- with how the world was outside, it wasn’t like it would be easy to sell their ‘wares’. Connections were in order, and even if Hikaru said he had a contact, he wasn’t so sure it would be successful. Still, their other options were… Limited. Crazy at best, suicidal at worst. Admittedly, those options were very much up his alley.
"…Kiseki and I have contacts of our own, but I’m not sure if those are still present. It would be better to stick with your idea, Hikaru." he turned to Shay, arms crossed. "Presuming what you found could be sold, at least. I’m not sure if there are companies willing to take it…"
A familiar voice broke the tense air, and Gorou blinked before looking in the direction it originated from. He most certainly didn’t want to see the face that voice belonged to, but he did, and he sighed. The last thing he wanted was for her to get into his mess.
"Yeah, reunion party is certainly one way of putting it."
… Well, at least they were kind enough to help him out.
As Hikaru and Gorou spoke of contacts that may or may not be there, Shay quirked an eyebrow. Tokyo was still on lockdown then… not that he was particularly surprised at the state of affairs, although it did make his decision as to what his next step should have been a bit more cemented in his mind.
"I unsubtlely hint that I might have information on technology at least five separate groups of people have died for, technology that can be potentially used in some way against the group that started it… and your first instinct is to sell it?"
In spite of their suggestions to help following through with his original plan, the pitchman sounded a little put out. How did these dense fucks get anywhere in life? They weren’t going to appeal to angel investors that way.
”..I mean, that was mine too, yeah, but you sounded so gung ho about— oh, hey Haribara.”
He returned her grin with one of his own and a small wave, his mood seemingly doing a complete 180. It was kind enough that she’d come back in the first place to help them after wanting to get out as badly as she did; if she heard him discussing this sort of thing with her maybe-friends….
… er, well, he wasn’t entirely sure HE wanted to be on the receiving end of that aim of hers. Reaching up, he rubbed sheepishly at the back of his neck.
"Keheh, too much going on in this day and age for me to be taking time off. You look well, though. Have fun at Whatshisname’s summer house?"
Hikaru rubbed the back of his neck, it was nearly impossible to tell with his gear covering most of his features, but he was definitely quirking a brow in Gorou’s direction. He let out a soft laugh like the former waiter made a joke before finally speaking.
“Well, my idea, if anything, is the same as yours, Gorou-kun. Seki-kun is Kiseki. If you two have contacts then trying to locate them would be a decent idea. Or quite possibly the best idea we have right now.” He eyed Shay cautiously behind the visor of his helmet. Sensing sarcasm wasn’t’ exactly his strongest suit. “That is unless we come up with a better plan, right now I believe this is the best one we got.”
He heard a familiar voice after that and turned his head to view a familiar green hair cut. The hand he used to scratch the back of his neck now waved in her direction, his robotic arm remained idle by his side.
“It probably doesn’t look like much of a party, does it?”
It might have been an obvious question, but that was because it was. Over the last three months he could only recall partying once. There were many fond memories to reflect on but that one certainly stood out to Hikaru the most. It was quite possibly the best party in his life, one shared with friends, and most importantly, Kiseki.
“Welcome to the discussion at any rate,” he added in a warmer tone.
It wasn't exactly difficult for Naori to tell that whatever was going on between the three of them wasn't just a lighthearted conversation, though her casual tone didn't belie any of her suspicions. Tilting her head slightly at Hikaru, the acupuncturist smiled and shook her head at him, throwing up her hands in mock exasperation before coming to stand next to Gorou.
"Duh, of course it doesn't look like a party! You're missing your silly hats and your noisemakers."
Honestly, they deserved to throw a party after everything they'd just been through. If someone told her a year ago that she would be performing an armed raid on a secret facility full of mysterious cloning machinery (and coming out alive), she would never have believed it. But then again, who would have? Turning her attention to Shay next, Naori shrugged airily.
"No chance for breaks after all, huh? Well, being busy suits you."
"Etsuo-kun's house was fine, yeah! Better than staying in this dump for three months, anyway. ...Uh, no offense meant, though. It's thanks to you that all those people are gonna get to have a second chance, I guess."
The time she'd spent away from Gaia was filled with rigorous training and preparation for their break-in, that much was true, but she would have been lying if she said that she'd disliked being there. It was the happiest she'd been in months, after all. Naori still wasn't completely sure that cloning people was the answer to their problems, but if it was her in their situation, she wasn't sure what she would have done. Thankfully, she would never need to find out.
"...Not to mention all that Collective tech you were gonna nab, right?"
The girl lowered her voice slightly so that passersby wouldn't be able to hear, though kept it loud enough that the rest would be able to understand her. She didn't know exactly what plans Shay had in store for his stolen borrowed goods, but she was more than a little interested in finding them out.
yooo i've been seeing a lot of negativity and i'm just kinda trying to get my feelings out, so im putting Proper Punctuation mode on!!! [mario voice] here we gooooo
(important things are bolded and tl;dr at the bottom)
So first an introduction, I guess!
I'm Mousse, I played Tsutomu Joukawa and Naori Haribara in DA2/3 respectively and I'm currently playing Deadsuga Setsuga Igarashi in DA4.
I joined Doubt at the start of DA2, along with one other friend, and knowing no one else. I wasn't familiar with the DR roleplay community at all, I never did indie RP, and I had no prior experience with the GMs. I didn't particularly expect to get in, and if I didn't, I wouldn't have been all that bothered by it. I applied on a whim a few days before apps closed. For all intents and purposes, I was able to come into DA2 with no strings attached and no bias.
As luck would have it, I did get in, and was even fortunate enough to be in the same game as my friend! It was all pretty cool. I was extremely impressed with the concise and clear weekly schedule, the detailed area maps and descriptions, and the sheer effort put into answering investigation asks and publishing trial submissions in a timely manner. It was amazing that a RP group could make a cohesive story work from start to finish and actually manage to conclude a single game, let alone two. I've tried running groups before. I've been an admin. To state the obvious, it's hard, and it's super easy for them to die even before getting off of the ground.
For a recreational RP group put together just to entertain people in their free time, I can safely say that a lot more work went into Doubt than I could ever have expected or guessed.
I've been seeing some posts going around criticizing Doubt for being poorly organized, but I can honestly say I've never seen a single other player complain about that. The games are usually a time commitment of several months -- I would never, ever in a million years have applied for DA3 after DA2 if I thought it that it was badly run.
That said, I've also seen people claim that they don't like Doubt because it's the 'standard' for DR groups. I've literally never heard a Doubt GM make the claim that their setup is the 'best', or that other groups should follow their format, either on the main blog or anywhere else.
The elitism that people in Doubt are being accused of is perpetuated by the DR RP community in general, not the players or the mods. People praise and emulate Doubt's submission based formula because it's worked. It's carried the group through 3 (going on 4) games. No one has said it's the only way to run a group, or that other DR RP groups need to be like Doubt to be successful, but people use similar formats because it's proven to be reliable in the past, and that's fine.
As for the people in Doubt!
For the most part, my experiences have been overwhelmingly positive. I've met a lot of people and made friends that I wouldn't have if it wasn't for Doubt. Most of the players I've met have been nothing but good to me and good to people outside of the group. That goes for the mods, too. On the occasions that I went to them with game questions or personal issues, they were absolutely accommodating, friendly, and professional. They've always been very sensitive with looking after players and readers and dealing with what might make them uncomfortable, tagging posts appropriately, etc. I'm sure that people both inside and outside of Doubt can attest to that. I've never, ever seen them attack or bully anyone, even if they're dealing with difficult situations that are tough to resolve.
Obviously, I can't account for the people who receive anon hate criticizing them for disliking Doubt. But as someone involved with Doubt, the very least I can say is that I have a very hard time imagining someone actually in the group sending messages like those. The vast, vast majority of players, as I mentioned, are super chill and open. Many of them are friends with other people in the indie community or are in/running other DR games themselves.
I've also seen a post going around recently that criticizes the mods for being biased towards nice character art and sprites, which I can 100% guarantee isn't true. Plenty of people don't have sprites at all! Also, I applied to DA2 with sprites that looked like this.
he is Burning :^(
I can't believe I'm actually having to say this, but I would highly recommend that you take any unsourced information about /anything/ (not just Doubt!) with a huge grain of salt, and remember that this is tumblr. It's important to fact check.
tl;dr
my experience with doubt has been mostly positive. i applied for a second and then a third game because i enjoyed my time there. the inside of the group isn't some drama shitfest, it's actually calm and people get along with each other. yeah, there have been bumps, but that's called 'life'?? people have (and will continue) to resolve their issues and keep going when they disagree.
honestly it's just a normal roleplay group and that's it. there's no big fuss about getting into doubt or playing in doubt, no one I've met as a player claims they're part of the 'elite' just because they're in doubt.
have opinions, express opinions, blacklist, do whatever you gotta do, but at the end remember to put things in perspective and recall that this is a
ｆｉｃｔｉｏｎａｌ ａｎｉｍｅ ｔｅｅｎ ｒｏｌｅｐｌａｙ
thanks for reading if you made it this far, and please please please don't send misinformation or anon hate to people (whether you're involved with doubt or not). that's not cool.
What could we, the Hope’s Peak students, do to them?
Gorou let out what could only be presumed was a half grumble and half groan. There was a certain truth to their words- it’s not like they were in the best spot to do anything, but at the same time the Collective wasn’t at their peak either. Opportunities were present, it was just a matter of capitalizing on them.
"Well, who else could do anything about it? The government? We were brought to Hope’s Peak because of our talent, surely that puts us as some of the most qualified to do anything about this, right?"
The vigilante stood up, hand on the back of his neck and eyes still focused on the ground. Hikaru’s mention of old collective facilities was an interesting point to bring up- maybe they really were on their last legs?
"Besides, Gaia and Arcadia haven’t been lost yet. Maybe we can dig something up that could give us an idea of what they’re planning. We’re super high school levels, right? We can think of something.”
For a moment, Shay’s attentions lingered on Hikaru in an almost dumbfounded silence. Admittedly, he hadn’t been really thinking about the other facilities when he first passed judgement on the matter. There was him (not a force to be reckoned with), there was the Collective (still a force to be reckoned with), and there was a buyer (a force to be reckoned with that would keep the Collective occupied for at least a week while he got home and urged whatever was left of his family to seek safe harbor before some radical burned the barn down).
… But that wasn’t an end, was it? It was an escape, albeit a more improved one than what the A-Team had provided… but it would only be throwing more people under the bus in return for the stellar opportunity to keep running and hiding for the remainder of his days - if not from the Collective, than the next problem that decided to rise up. Goodbye to the three months spent scrounging and staring at weird, malformed children in tubes.
Gorou spoke up again, of digging up long overturned ground. Shay sighed. If there was no going home again… what did he have to lose that wasn’t actively slipping through his fingers already?
"You wouldn’t find anything that I don’t already know."
A little… bold, maybe, enough that the statement could possibly be taken as a bluff, but it might have been enough to tempt them into giving a little more of what they might intend to do with the knowledge.
"My only interest in cloning was the process, so I spent my three months down here trying to dig up as much on the Collective and their projects as I could.
He rubbed his chin, looking a little disappointed as he continued.
There wasn’t any real dirt on their plans as far as I could find.. but regarding their little research project, I’ve… probably gotten enough to loosely replicate and operate most of their technology you’d find around here.”
Preferably with some enhancements to the cloning process to make it a little less creepy and time consuming if he could ever figure out a means to work with the damned thing… although testing any ‘ideas’ he could come up with probably wouldn’t be worth the risk.
"Not anything I have the supplies to make much use of, but I have a good feeling that someone with a mind for these sorts of things who would find what I’ve scrapped together veeery interesting.”
Gorou had a point, there were still things here that they could take a look into, but as Shay pointed out, it was unneeded. Shay had been digging up information during his three months overseeing the cloning project and had an insider’s perspective on the process. A process he was keen on sharing with the right people with the right amount of cash no doubt. Hikaru wasn’t so sure, and replayed his priorities in his mind just to ensure they were kept straight.
He wanted to make sure that this operation worked smoothly and that they could get into the city. He wanted to be able to actually see his family for himself, he still missed them terribly. After that he wouldn’t mind finding a way to permanently dismantle whatever remained of the Collective. But that would take meticulous planning, mapping, equipment and would most likely put Hikaru at a constant risk for death. Risk of death aside, equipment wouldn’t be easy to come by, not without the means to get it. Base off what Shay was proposing they could potentially get the means by getting paid. But what would that mean for Hikaru’s original plan?
Hikaru reached toward his belt, and slowly turned his radio off. He was sure it wasn’t broadcasting, but he just wanted to be sure he wouldn’t say something that either the driving team or the comm team would catch. The radio turned off with an audible click. He spoke in a low tone, careful of any of the clones happening by to overhear them.
“You want to find a buyer in Tokyo, don’t you? It could be quite difficult if you can’t find the right person, or even the right person with right amount of money. The collective has the city on lockdown after all, they undoubtedly have people on the inside.”
Hikaru wasn’t completely sold on it, but sales were never his strongest suit. The connections he had in the city were friends of the family, his father’s employees, or friends he made in cram school. None of them would have the money or knowledge to put Shay’s information to good use. But that was only Hikaru’s circle of friends. Seki-kun, on the other hand, knew a different crowd. One likely to take more of an interest in what Shay had to offer.
“Seki-kun could help you find a contact,” he turned toward Gorou, his helmet still masking his features, “unless you have a better idea Gorou-kun.”
Even with three months of training, it was difficult to believe that the team had successfully managed to pull together enough of a cooperative effort to infiltrate Gaia. After all, there was no real way of knowing what sort of welcome would be waiting for them got there -- not only did they have the members of the Collective to worry about, but also the group of students that stayed behind in their wake. Naori could only assume that between the earthquakes and the threat of being recaptured, it wasn't a very good time. And what would the clones do, now that they were back on their feet? She didn't stick around to watch them jump out of their pods, or test tubes, or wherever they came from -- it felt too strange, too unsettling to watch.
With her shotgun and Ryota's trusty bag still bumping lightly against her back, the acupuncturist wandered through the city alone, occasionally stopping to pull out a familiar camera and take a photograph. The more documentation she had, the better. That way at least, no one could ever possibly claim that they were lying about everything that had happened to them.
(Maybe the rest of the country was already in a bad enough state that they would believe their story no matter how outlandish it seemed. She had no way of knowing, after all.)
Eventually, Naori's feet brought her to the main square, and she tilted her head slightly in the direction of a couple of slightly hushed, vaguely conspiratorial voices as she stopped to listen. Gorou, Hikaru -- that was undoubtedly Shay, judging by the accent. Stepping out from behind the corner, Naori waved the camera at them idly and allowed a smile to cross her face as she approached.
"Well, look who it is! Having a reunion party?... Or planning something else already? I'd at least've expected you to take some time off, Shay -- but I guess business waits for no man."
I was going to say something mushy to you guys, but all I can think of is the following: when I labeled these files based on numbers, for example, Naori being 1.gif, Yukie being 2.gif, etc. Naoki is 6.gif and Aqua is 9.gif … B)
