White Light (me and FF only)

[mugenginga]

Himitsu hesitated, but nodded. It would be better to test her repairs now. She hadn't been able to prevent herself from fiddling a bit with the thing, and there was a fair chance it would pack far more punch than before. She reached into her pocket and pulled out what would seem to be to Pallete an unimpressive bronze key. She held it up and pointed to the front of the shop.

"You should try it out there. I don't particularly wish for the shop to collapse due to a misfire."

She didn't have the original notes for the key, so a lot of guesswork had taken place in addition to the fiddling...

[Firebreath Fishslap]

Eriol considerably brightened up when the doll had his key returned to him. He held it up to examine it in the light before hugging it close to him. He then held it out again.

"Key Protocol #24324: Begin Reconfirmation Process. Bronze Key of Lightning and the Heavens, Assume True Form. Bronze Key of the Heavens, Assemble!" He held it out and the key seemed to come apart, different panels on it opening up and lightning sparking out of it before it began to put itself together and form into something much larger. By the time it had put itself back together, the key was now taller than Eriol himself. Palette blinked before the doll ran outside and shot some lightning out of the key's tip, breaking a rather large hole in a fairly strong brick wall outside the shop. He giggled before continuing to break even more holes in the wall.

"...Shouldn't we stop him?" Palette asked. Okay, creepy living doll thing? Just became creepier.

[mugenginga]

Himitsu sighed, "As much as I'd like to let him get some of that out, he will attract unwanted attention. You stay here."

Himitsu ran as best she could in the yukata she was wearing. On her way out, she could be seen pulling a electric blue fan from under her obi. She pushed open the door and held the fan ready to snap open.

"Eriol, would you mind kindly coming back to the shop and settling down?" She was still quite calm. She realized now she probably would have done better to put a limiter on the key. As it was, it was painfully clear she'd have to abandon the thoughts she'd recnetly been having of reintroducing Eriol and Kerro. The older doll was obviously not ready for it, and there was still repairs needing to be done.

I'm going to have to pay for repairs if he gets much further. The populated area isn't far beyond here...

[Firebreath Fishslap]

Eriol turned aroung to face Himitsu. There was an oddly maniac look in his eyes, and it became very clear that the doll had basically gone back to how he was before.

"But I like doing this, Ms. Himitsu. It's fun. And I haven't been able to hold the Creator's gift to me in a long time. It's so beautiful... don't you think so Ms. Palette?" He was looking right at Palette, who panicked.

"Do something about him!" Palette yelled. "He's your doll, isn't he?!"

[mugenginga]

"No, he isn't," Himitsu stated flatly, positioning herself between Palette and Eriol. She wasn't sure quite how Palette was important to the events in her world, but Rylou had made it more than clear she was. She flipped open the fan, regretting not taking the dragon summoning one. Right now she had to prevent him from getting to a residential area, "Get back inside the shop, it has enough seals to protect you should something happen. I'll be back as soon as I can."

The black silk of the fan caught aflame, but it seemed to not effect Himitsu in the least. She didn't allow the magic to advance any further than that. She took a few steps towards the doll.

"Eriol, I will not allow you to cause any further harm. There are people not far from here, and if it takes your death to prevent harm from coming to them, I will not hesitate," she didn't mean it as a threat or a taunt. She wanted Eriol to know that she was serious and would carry out her warning, "If you feel you must cause havoc, take it to an unpopulated area."

But the heaviest part of what she had said was "your death". It meant that Eriol was more than a "mere" automation. She had worded it in a way that she hoped would inform the doll she found him to be alive. She didnt' want to have to take that life... but her warning stood.

[Firebreath Fishslap]

Palette backed up before running back in the shop. This was why dolls scared her.

Eriol stopped at the words "your death." Not your destruction, or anything like that. She'd actually used the word death. He dropped the key, and sat down rather uncomfortably. It was pretty much impossible to tell what he was thinking, what with his odd mental processes. They tended to "skip", like a video player.

He stood back up again, and, after grabbing the key, walked back into the shop before returning it to its smaller size and going back to dusting.

[mugenginga]

Himitsu hadn't quite expected it to diffuse that quickly. She hadn't chosen the term death on purpose. It was just the first word that came into her mind when she thought of Eriol. Despite being a machine, he was alive. The narrow thought that one had to be organic to live was one she had always despised. Eriol functioned completely outside of programming, he was very much alive. She dropped her hand as Eriol returned to the shop and snapped the fan shut, the fire vanishing in a bit of a muted spark.

Her next thoughts were of Palette. She would likely be giving Eriol a fair amount of distance now. She tucked the fan back into her obi and walked into the shop, "Palette?"

She gave a small smile towards Eriol. She didn't know if the doll would understand it meant that there were no harsh feelings, but she had to try and convey that message. And while she had none, Palette might...

Kaini had his COMP open as he stepped outside of the back room. He had heard yelling, "What happened...?"

[Firebreath Fishslap]

Palette stepped out from behind the counter, where she had gone in case the doll had started firing electricity into the shop, though she doubted that it would protect her well. She pointed at Eriol. "That doll went crazy! I thought he was going to kill me!"

Eriol continued to dust. It seemed he hadn't heard Palette talking, or he was breaking down again. This was confirmed when he opened his mouth, the words coming out all staticy and NOT in english or japanese. In fact, it sounded almost like broken... Esperanto? The fact that it wasn't being actively translated was either because the island didn't translate Esperanto, or the static was causing it to be untranslateable.

Palette raised an eyebrow. "What. The. Hell."

[mugenginga]

"He tried to kill you...?" Kaini repeated, the words not seeming to sink in. Eriol seemed rather the puppy dog, and he also was a... well, android with how he acted. Which meant any attempts to kill would have been preprogrammed, right? He didn't want to say Eriol looked harmless. Eriol worked for Himitsu, and he was quickly realizing nothing in her shop was harmless.

"He got over excited," Himitsu said plainly, "Eriol, can you hear me? I know you're having trouble speaking. But I need some indication you can still process my speech," she seemed extremely concerned.

[Firebreath Fishslap]

Eriol didn't seem to have heard her, his voice still heavy with static as he spoke again. "Mi vol elimin tiuj la sekvanta, bona, Kreinto?" He had definitely broken himself again, probably from the excitement of getting the key back. At least it wasn't any structural damage for once.

He paused. "Mi sugestas, ke vi ..u iam ajn alparol mi?" As he spoke, bits and pieces of it came through in english.

"I think he's broken." Palette said. "You can fix him, right?" She didn't want any repeats of what had happened just a few minutes ago.

[mugenginga]

Himitsu looked pained at Eriol's second string of gibberish. Which meant she understood him, probably a bit of a shock. He had called her "Kreinto" or "Creator". He really was rattled. She glanced at Palette, "He's damaged, he got worked up. I think he can understand me, though..."

"It sounds like he is speaking gibberish," Kaini said, his finger still hovering over the confirmation button. It seemed almost a blend of Keiichi's battle ready stance and Naoya's threatening one.

"He's not, just leave it at that," she turned back to Eriol, "Eriol, your Creator is not here. It's me. Himitsu. Please, if you can come back to us...." At this rate he was going to short himself out. She'd seen the inner workings of Kerro, but somehow it seemed wrong to try and upgrade Eriol to work better. The most she could do was try and put his settings back to what they should be, and it was a shot in the dark with that. Eriol's Creator had used designs that were pointlessly complicated.

[Firebreath Fishslap]

"...Come... back?"

The doll stopped and stared at the duster, before looking down at the floor, and then around at the room. His hat plopped off as he did so.

Ha, I knew that it wasn't glued on. Palette thought to herself.

Eriol bent down and picked the hat up again. He put it on before walking over to a chair and sitting down.
"...Beginning Emergency Reboot." It looked like he was restarting whatever personality settings had gone awry before. At least the Creator had put in some sort of failsafe in case of something like this happening. At the worst, Eriol would lose memory of the past few hours.

[mugenginga]

Himitsu chose to look for a few moments before letting her self relax. Not completely, but it seemed the immediate danger was over. Kaini relaxed a little as well, but he kept the COMP open. She looked like a person who had forgotten something and suddenly remembered it.

"Right. Paint. If you'll come this way, Palette. Kaini, if you think you have any errands to run you should do so today. Unless you plan on leaving before my visitor arrives... but while you have freedom to leave, I am keeping Keiichi and Naoya here."

Kaini suddenly looked pissed. She was telling him he could leave but was keeping his brother and cousin hostage!? She returned his glare, "It is for their safety."

"I'm not defenseless!"

"But they are. I won't fight about this anymore," to make her poitn clear she turned back around and headed towards another side room. Kaini clenched his free fist and walked into the room his brother and cousin were in.

It was unlikely much more would happen the rest of the day.

(OOC: As In I can time jump to Yuugi and co arriving then. Is Minato going to be with them?)

[Firebreath Fishslap]

(OOC: Yeah.)

The next day, Minato, Yuugi, and Atem arrived at the shop. Because Minato had never actually been to the shop before, he had followed behind the other two to get there. As it was, this shop reminded him more than a bit of the Velvet Room. There was a bit of mysticism about the place. If it was run by some long nosed man who spoke in riddles, that wouldn't be surprising in the least. However, it seemed it was run by some woman named Himitsu instead. He wondered if she had a long nose.

Upon the arrival of the three, Eriol peered outside the door. "Ms. Himitsu, we have guests."

If Kaini was downstairs then, it was likely that he could see the floating clock above Minato's head that read eight now, though he probably didn't know what it meant.

[mugenginga]

Yuugi turned towards Minato as they came to the shop, "I think we should tell you, its kind of creepy here. Himitsu-san seems to know way more about things than she should."

Atem looked a bit nervous, which considering Atem was a rather good indicator of how "good" things could go. Eriol probably would not be happy upon seeing the teen. After all, while the body had been that of Yuugi's he had seen Atem's "ghost" form, and even the skin difference his real form possessed was no disguise against who he was. Atem had replaced his deck pouch before the trip to Giant's Lake, so that was visible as well.

The group reached the front of the shop moments after Eriol had announced the visitors. Himitsu hadn't been expecting anyone, so the visit obviously wasn't the kind that would effect dimensions. Kaini had heard Eriol speaking and had come out of the room. He was about to turn around and pretend he hadn't been there when he caught sight of the number floating above Minato's head. That... hadn't been there before, so what the hell was it? The teen had no idea that not having his COMP active before had prevented the sight of the Death Clock.

Himitsu hurried out of the back room, telling Eriol thank you as she came out. She paused when she saw Atem and Yuugi, but the hesitation over them was completely replaced as she saw Minato. In fact, she almost tripped over the bottom of her own yukata. She made a point of covering something like a sketchpad up with a tablecloth before gesturing to the three teens. Well, she certainly hadn't expected this crowd.

"...Is it just me, or is she looking at Minato-kun oddly?" Yuugi asked.

Atem shook his head, "She hesitated over us as well. She wants us to come in. Kaini is there too, and that is why we came here," he walked to the door and pulled it open, "Minato, if you want to stay out there I won't blame you."

He looked a little annoyed as he walked into the shop. Yuugi went in after, pausing only long enough to grin nervously at Minato.