Cosmos Quest (Naruto/Lupin III)

[FurikoMaru]

[X] Pretty damn lucky it passed through Kiba and didn't get lodged anywhere, because HOLY CRAP.

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Gaante resents the implication that he can't make his bullets go wherever the hell he wants them to go.

If you want to know why he doesn't make them stick around, ask no-fun Temari and her insistence that he leave as little evidence as possible. I mean, it's not he knew you were going to go looking for the bullet when he shot Kiba, and it's not like he knew you had a seal on hand to stick it in before it dissolved.

 

[Silversun17]

[X] "Sabaku no Gaara!"

 

[Hymn of Ragnarok]

yup, we sensed that he had Shukaku chakra in him, but we already knew that, was there a mention of the bullet itself feeling that way? I assumed that was 100% pure normal gaara chakra, then again, by the sounds of it, 100% normal Garaa chakra IS Shukaku's chakra.

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Pfft. It's GAARA chakra. Explicitly says so. And Gaara's chakra is described as SCARY AS FUCK.

Plus, y'know. It was made of sand. There's a teeny tiny itty bitty connection, dontcha know?

I just sort of assumed he worked like naruto does, Normal human chakra on top, crazy demon chakra if you dig a little deeper.

why would he be digging into his demonic power for his opening move? that's like expecting one of Naruto's clones to kill everyone around it when it bursts into smoke.

why the hell would he Tap something so evil for something so trivial? its not like he needed the powerboost.

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As Furiko pointed out, because this is his natural state of being. More to the point, we DON'T get this feeling around Naruto, also explicitly stated. Naruto has a hell of a lot of chakra, but nothing as evil as Gaara's. Which implies that Gaara's chakra has something a lot more dangerous right at the surface, especially given his much more pleasant attitude than canon. And we have plenty of metaknowledge to put the pieces together, including confirmation that Gaara is the reincarnation of Dante.

And hell, description that it feels like it would reach out and bite you just because it could. Which it just did. That's not sparse evidence, that's Furiko foreshadowing us and giving as explicit warning as she could without straight up saying it. We lulled ourself into a false sense of security when nothing bad happened to us, but no, original description held up quite nicely.

This is not hard to deduce.

hell, it seems to have been forged into a form that completely nulifes all the advantages of USING demonic chakra, (I.E, it didn't horribly kill Kiba) so why even bother going to that extra effort?

Now we know, (or suspect) that his Dantestuff ate the Ichibi and how he uses its chakra for his normal stuff, then it makes a bit more sense, but just expecting a single random attack launched by him to turn out to be Bijuu powered? why?

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Because it was made of sand, that's an Ichibi trick, Furiko doesn't read PTS for any other retcons, and because Gaara's chakra is explicitly described as terrifying from the first encounter and he know he's a jink so why WOULDN'T you expect bijuu chakra, especially given his previous incarnation?

yes, you predicted what happened, and I considered your prediction and decided that your logic was a hell of a leap. yes, you turned out to be right, but either you worked out some stuff before the rest of us (and didn't share) or you just jumped to the right conclusion on the sparsest of evidence.

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Ignoring that you have an interesting definition of sparse evidence, you're pretty much the only person clinging desperately to this idea that it couldn't be seen coming. The GM says it was schmuck bait and practically laments us falling for it. Are you saying the GM is wrong?

Maybe it's just you.

And for the record, no, Furiko told me nothing on this subject. Not even anything tangentially related. Well, not until I'd already guessed it, and that was just confirming it.

Broken clocks, ect.

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Wait, are we still talking about me?

 

[Hymn of Ragnarok]

And on the current topic....

I am not particularly enthused by coughing up Gaara's name from the start. Normally I'd expect Gai to be reasonable, but as he is? I don't want him to start looking at Gaara like he's passing out potential bombs.




[X] "I'm sorry!"

Well, we've been told we're kind of an arrogant bitch who's overconfident and reckless. Had that illustrated in a Bad End quite explicitly.

Time to suck it up, eat a lesson in humility. If we acknowledge our own faults we might key down Gai or save us a more brutal ass-reaming. I know accepting accountability for our actions isn't our shtick, but, well, we just hit Gai right where it hurts; his students.

Time to reassure him we're on the level. The danger has passed, at least for now, so Gai has no reason to make a snap decision and chase something down, although he may be worried that he may have to, but better he think we're at fault, as we are, than to pin the majority of the blame on Gaara in a first impression.

Let's take our lumps.

 

[1234q1234q]

I am not particularly enthused by coughing up Gaara's name from the start. Normally I'd expect Gai to be reasonable, but as he is? I don't want him to start looking at Gaara like he's passing out potential bombs.

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If Gai does not know what Gaara is, he does not deserve his rank. He asked a very pointed question. There are TWO places to get that sort of Chakra. Lets answer his fucking question. You know "Where did you get that chakra?" Because "I'm Sorry" implies we did something wrong, like extort it from Naruto.

Also, Lets let the people that might have to fight him have a heads up. There is more at stake then just a lesson in humility. With a more fleshed out world means that the wars will be different, I could see having to kill Gaara. He is not part of the village and there is no obligation to keep this a secret.


[X] "Sabaku no Gaara!"

 

[Hymn of Ragnarok]

If Gai does not know what Gaara is, he does not deserve his rank. He asked a very pointed question. There are TWO places to get that sort of Chakra. Lets answer his fucking question. You know "Where did you get that chakra?" Because "I'm Sorry" implies we did something wrong, like extort it from Naruto.

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That we did something wrong is kind of my point. And extorting it from Naruto is...a very, very significant stretch that would require a certain law to have been shattered and knowledge revealed to us. It's a long shot. In fact I'm not sure how he'd plausibly come to that before Gaara, given Occum's Razor makes Gaara far more obvious.

I have no doubt that Gai knows what Gaara is. I suspect Gaara is one of his guesses. But I want to establish our own culpability first. He is pissed and pissed at us.

Also, Lets let the people that might have to fight him have a heads up. There is more at stake then just a lesson in humility. With a more fleshed out world means that the wars will be different, I could see having to kill Gaara. He is not part of the village and there is no obligation to keep this a secret.

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I never said not mention Gaara. Hell no. We'll absolutely say where this came from.

But we did this of our own initiative, and it is our fault. That's what I want to establish first.

Also, it's the odd man out of canon options, and with Furiko that usually means the most interesting.

 

[Torgamous]

If Gai does not know what Gaara is, he does not deserve his rank. He asked a very pointed question. There are TWO places to get that sort of Chakra.

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Very good point. "Why is he the Kyuubi" probably would implicate Naruto.
...Yeah, I think I'm interested in seeing where that goes.

[X] "Why is he the Kyuubi?!"

 

[Jack Trade]

[X] "Sabaku no Gaara!"

 

[1234q1234q]

That we did something wrong is kind of my point.

But we did this of our own initiative, and it is our fault. That's what I want to establish first.

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But what did we do wrong here? What law did we break? Our cat took it in plain view of everyone. Not one of the far, far more capable people stopped it. Heck, taking it was not even our idea. We were doing it at the request of Kiba.

And finally as soon as it we saw that it was dangerous, we sealed it.

 

[Hymn of Ragnarok]

But what did we do wrong here? What law did we break? Our cat took it in plain view of everyone. Not one of the far, far more capable people stopped it. Heck, taking it was not even our idea. We were doing it at the request of Kiba.

And finally as soon as it we saw that it was dangerous, we sealed it.

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We took Gaara's bullet and bit of bijuu chakra and while we didn't know it was dangerous, although we really should have picked up on the chakra bits earlier, we still fucked it. Regardless of our intentions we just brought out the chakra equivalent of anti-matter unsupervised and in a hospital ward.

All this talk about Kiba asked for for it, it wasn't our idea, law, this is just shifting the blame. We screwed up. We didn't treat this stuff with proper precautions despite us knowing as soon as we met him that Gaara's chakra is terrifying, although why only now we're connecting it to the Kyuubi I'm questioning....

Either way, if a person is an unwitting mule for bringing a bomb into a hospital, they still brought the damn bomb into the hospital and they should damn well feel sorry for it. Especially when, while not entirely cognizant of the risks, we did just pull it out. And we could have figured some of this out by examining the bullet when we first got it.

So yeah. Instead of denying blame, accept it and lead with it.

 

[1234q1234q]

So yeah. Instead of denying blame, accept it and lead with it.

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I don't mind taking blame, and there is blame for her carelessness. But you do NOT ignore a direct question from a superior officer. If it was a sub-vote I would go for it. But Ino is in a paramilitary and disobedience, especially in a case like this, will be punished.

 

[Hymn of Ragnarok]

I don't mind taking blame, and there is blame for her carelessness. But you do NOT ignore a direct question from a superior officer. If it was a sub-vote I would go for it. But Ino is in a paramilitary and disobedience, especially in a case like this, will be punished.

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I think punished is going too far here, it'd be light if any was applied less for disobedience and more along the lines of, "You idiot!"

You know what, compromise.

[X] "I picked up Gaara's bullet and sealed it after his fight, that's where it came from!"
-[X] Apologize

It's wordier than the other options but at least it has the note of near-hysteric panic.

 

[1234q1234q]

Looked at the last story post and there is a place for write ins so, I am game.

I think punished is going too far here, it'd be light if any was applied less for disobedience and more along the lines of, "You idiot!"

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It's more that we are up for rank advancement. If Gai complained about not getting a prompt answer, in a relatively low risk environment, it could tank our chances.

[X] "I picked up Gaara's bullet and sealed it after his fight, that's where it came from!"

 

[Hymn of Ragnarok]

Looked at the last story post and there is a place for write ins so, I am game.
It's more that we are up for rank advancement. If Gai complained about not getting a prompt answer, in a relatively low risk environment, it could tank our chances.

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Considering the extenuating circumstances and that we sound like we're having a mini-flashback to the Kyuubi hitting Konoha, and that Gai is likely to be rather sympathetic because he really is that nice a guy, he's just concerned, when all is said and done I do not think he'd be holding anything against us. Certainly nothing serious enough to tank our promotion.

 

[1234q1234q]

Considering the extenuating circumstances and that we sound like we're having a mini-flashback to the Kyuubi hitting Konoha, and that Gai is likely to be rather sympathetic because he really is that nice a guy, he's just concerned, when all is said and done I do not think he'd be holding anything against us. Certainly nothing serious enough to tank our promotion.

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Probably not, it just rubs me the wrong way to ignore a question and shout contextless apologies. It may be just me, but the stand alone "I'm Sorry" option seemed almost rude.

 

[Hymn of Ragnarok]

Probably not, it just rubs me the wrong way to ignore a question and shout contextless apologies. It may be just me, but the stand alone "I'm Sorry" option seemed almost rude.

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It would be if that were the end of it, but I am nigh on certain Furiko has something unique waiting behind that door, like back when we chose to reveal something personal to Ami.

We let slip something even we didn't intend, in this case us maybe having a mini-breakdown instead of keeping our cool, and vulnerability aside I honestly think we'd be better off from a relationship and personal development standpoint for that to happen.

I'm not really content with what I came up with, although I added an apologize option, just because my gut is so confident that there's something unique behind that option, more than either of the others. Kyuubi unlocks Naruto knowledge or hints, Gaara is giving it straight, Sorry is a mystery box and is unique. I'm positive of it.

 

[Unclouded]

[X] "Sabaku no Gaara!"

 

[FurikoMaru]

[X] And lots of wavy hair like Liberace!

Some instinct, call it self-preservation or just an ingrained need to pass on helpful information promptly in a crisis, grabs the steering wheel of your brain and offers Dead Man's Curve a sacrificial lamb in your stead.

"Sabaku no Gaara!"

"What?!" Neji asks, furious. "What on earth were you doing taking samples of his chakra?"

"You complete lunatic!" Tenten yells.

"I didn't know it was made of pure chakra!" Wincing, you realize how that sounds coming from a sensor, and decide to confirm what they likely already suspect about your feline friend. "Kiba asked me when they were bringing him out of the arena to 'find the bullet'. He didn't say which one, so I sent Menka after both and he sealed them away to be examined later."

Wait a minute, why didn't Menka sense it before he put it away? He isn't that bad.

Which means its nature was disguised somehow. We'd probably have to ask Gaara himself to find out the details.

"And the seal held it in stasis until you released it," Gai says. He sounds much calmer now, which is in no way a reassuring thing. "Ino-chan, will you please allow me to examine the seal on Menka-kun's collar?"

You unbuckle the collar and hand it over without a word. Menka tidies his neck fur fastidiously, obviously glad to be rid of the thing.

Gai is obviously no seal-master, and after a moment he cocks an eye at Neji, who obligingly activates his Byakugan.

"It's secure, for now anyway." The veins recede, and a pair of white eyes glare at you. "It seems your luck holds out."

Ami frowns at the disdainful tone, but now that you listen for it you can hear an ascending arpeggio of worry in Neji's chakra. Damn. He always was hard to get a read on. Recent revelations have just added another layer of complexity.

You let out a breath you didn't realize you'd been holding, and slouch in your seat. "Thank god. I should have been more cautious. I figured if it didn't dissolve after impact and if I didn't sense anything strange about it it must be at least a half-normal bullet. I mean, Gaara's chakra is obviously all messed up, but..." You stare up at Gai. "What the hell is he? Really?"

Gai is silent for a long moment, and when he speaks again he doesn't look any of you in the eye.

"Lee. Neji. If either of you are called upon to fight Gaara in the finals, you must forfeit."

"Absolutely, sensei," Neji says as Lee cries, "What?!"

"Ino-chan, Ami-chan," Gai says turning to you, "I know I have no authority to ban either of you from doing so, but please give my words the consideration they are due; Gaara is an S-rank opponent."

Ami's mouth goes from agape to downright slack-jawed. Then she closes it, and nods decisively.

You:

[X] Nod along with her. You didn't want any of that before, and now your resolve is even stronger.

[X] Nod along with her. He only asked you to give his words consideration, after all; he isn't asking you not to fight outright. You might be able to find a way around Gaara.

[X] "I... might not be able to avoid it, Gai-sensei. He really seems eager to face me in the ring. If I say no it might damage international relations - I mean, Suna definitely sent him here to show him off in front of a live audience. If he doesn't get a good opponent for at least one fight, I'll have pissed off an ally and an S-rank ninja who up 'til now I was kind of getting along with. That doesn't seem like a very wise decision for a clan heiress to make."

[X] Write-in?

 

[Selias]

[X] Nod along with her. He only asked you to give his words consideration, after all; he isn't asking you not to fight outright. You might be able to find a way around Gaara.

 

[Jack Trade]

[X] Nod along with her. He only asked you to give his words consideration, after all; he isn't asking you not to fight outright. You might be able to find a way around Gaara.

 

[Silversun17]

[X] "I... might not be able to avoid it, Gai-sensei. He really seems eager to face me in the ring. If I say no it might damage international relations - I mean, Suna definitely sent him here to show him off in front of a live audience. If he doesn't get a good opponent for at least one fight, I'll have pissed off an ally and an S-rank ninja who up 'til now I was kind of getting along with. That doesn't seem like a very wise decision for a clan heiress to make."

 

[Redon]

[X] "I... might not be able to avoid it, Gai-sensei. He really seems eager to face me in the ring. If I say no it might damage international relations - I mean, Suna definitely sent him here to show him off in front of a live audience. If he doesn't get a good opponent for at least one fight, I'll have pissed off an ally and an S-rank ninja who up 'til now I was kind of getting along with. That doesn't seem like a very wise decision for a clan heiress to make."

 

[Unclouded]

[X] "I... might not be able to avoid it, Gai-sensei. He really seems eager to face me in the ring. If I say no it might damage international relations - I mean, Suna definitely sent him here to show him off in front of a live audience. If he doesn't get a good opponent for at least one fight, I'll have pissed off an ally and an S-rank ninja who up 'til now I was kind of getting along with. That doesn't seem like a very wise decision for a clan heiress to make."

 

[iamnuff]

snip

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I expected all of the "lol it feels evil" stuff to be about Shukaku, not Dante. I saw it, recognized it, then instantly disgarded the infomation, because i already knew that his chakra would feel evil, before we even met him.

Gaara has crazy chakra in canon, I assumed that being Saner in this fic would make him less likely to pull of demon-power for small-time stuff.

He's already shown that he's perfectly capable of controlling his sand without it.

Besides, I really can't see Shukaku packing heat.

The GM says it was schmuck bait and practically laments us falling for it. Are you saying the GM is wrong?

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yeah, maybe I'm exaggerating how out of the blue this was, but "you really should have seen this coming" is a peeve of mine.

this was obvious in hindsight, when we go back and check all the descriptions about Gaara and realize that he's running on 100% pure demonstuff ALL THE TIME, rather than just when he gets super mad like in canon.
At the time we made the call, it really wasn't obvious, or we wouldn't have voted for it, would we?


Perhaps, I overlooked the Dante aspect of his character simply because I don't like/know the series he comes from?

(it's made by capcom, known for horrible english voice-acting, and nonsensical plots)

regardless, its not important anymore, can we just drop it?


also, vote:

[X] Nod along with her. You didn't want any of that before, and now your resolve is even stronger.

We already knew not to fight him, that was blatantly obvious even when we fought he was just a Demon container, now we know he's a gunslinging half-demon, demon container, who throws his power around like it's candy?

honestly, he'd probably hold back (he doesn't seem like a psychopath) but I don't really see the point in getting shot for this.

Not like anything we currently have could actually hurt him anyway.

and yes, we totally have a choice about this.

 

[Vindictus]

Ah.

So the problem was that you have no idea who the fuck Dante is, actually.

Here's a quick rundown- Imagine if Kamina was actually a Hanyou...

 

[FurikoMaru]

Ah.

So the problem was that you have no idea who the fuck Dante is, actually.

Here's a quick rundown- Imagine if Kamina was actually a Hanyou...

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No, no, youkai are like the fae, not like demons. Dante's a hanakuma - a flowerbear half-devil.

Also Kamina's whole shtick was that he wanted to be a guy like Dante but was more of a Krillin.

 

[Vindictus]

More seriously, here's a good look at Dante's character-
[embed=425,349]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6DK-0Ig85gI[/embed]
Yes, he did just use the giant scythe blades stuck through him as weapons.

And this is one of his low end bullshit feats.

 

[FurikoMaru]

I did say all the jinchuuriki are going to be bullshit in this quest.

 

[nightblade]

How bullshit would Ino had been if we picked Dante at the beginning?

 

[Vindictus]

How bullshit would Ino had been if we picked Dante at the beginning?

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Pretty goddamned bullshit, if I remember the list of abilities Furiko gave out correctly.

IE, pretty sure that baby-us would be almost as combat capable as we are now sorta thing.