The World Ends With You - Liveplay! (inactive)

[sincere]

Things I should be doing:

+ Writing the three fics I haven't started that are due in 4-9 days.
+ Doing my roughly 8 million Sentience tags, although to be fair, half of them are the same questions.
+ Doing the other 15 tags that are sitting in my inbox.
+ Transcribing 3.1 of the Judith novel.

Things I am doing, right now, in this post, instead:

+ The World Ends With You liveplay.

Week 1, the 3rd Day. Let's survive. Wait, wrong game. Let's... resurrect?

Comments

[sincere]

Neku wakes up in total darkness clutching his head. What just happened?

sob he doesn't even know Shiki's name yet, he just calls her "the girl".

[sincere]

Shiki is nowhere around. We have a flashback to what happened five seconds ago for those of us who didn't put the DS down for a few days.

In case you've forgotten: Pinky told Neku to kill Shiki and she'd give him a pass out of the Reaper's Game, and Neku was like, "...well, I don't like Gears or fighting, but I can't pass up an offer like that."

Then he Force-chokes her.

[sincere]

Neku decides it's time to split, but he can't use a pin to light the way... So he just fumbles around in the darkness.

Until he runs into Shiki! Where the hell have you been?

[sincere]

Shiki doesn't seem to find any of this weird, so Neku also pretends not to find it weird, but he obviously does. She tells him most pins can't be used outside of battle, which is why the flame pin won't work, and he thinks, "Like psychokinesis," and then changes the topic quickly before he can think about all the murdering he almost did.

There's a reason we spend the better part of a month building up to the final "game".

[sincere]

Neku: Well, it's dark. We should be careful.
Shiki: Oh, I already found the exit.
Neku: Then why didn't you lea--
Shiki: I'm not going anywhere without you.

Then he's quiet for a bit and mutters some tsun at her. Feelings are hard, huh, Neku?

[sincere]

More flashbacks. He's got Shiki a foot off the ground, strangling her psychically, but--

Along comes A Scruffy Dude! And Mr. H scolds Pinky for not playing by the rules. You're not the GM so you can't make up missions, there can only be one mission per day, and making the mission "Kill your partner" is just plain illegal.

Pinky sulks that since she isn't the GM, this wasn't a mission, and she didn't break any rules.

Mr. H tells her to get lost and she slinks off.

[sincere]

"For a Player, you sure know a lot about our rules," she adds, suspiciously.

[sincere]

Scruffy Dude introduces himself properly as Sanae Hanekoma, a "guardian" who watches the game and makes sure "shady types don't start bendin' the rules."

Then Mr. H makes Neku apologize to Shiki for ignoring her when she tried to tell him not to listen to Pinky.

[sincere]

"There's only one way to stay alive in the Game's Shibuya. Trust your partner! Especially you, Phones."

In the Game, you need your partner; even when you seem alone, battling the Noise, your partner is there, sharing your energy. You've got to communicate etc etc

[sincere]

Shiki agrees. She's not good at psychs and she holds him back but she wants to win, too!

"I just want to understand you!" she says, and Neku dots some and then says, "I do, too."

He reveals that he doesn't remember anything except his name. He has no clue how he got to Scramble Crossing or got involved in this Game or anything.

[sincere]

END FLASHBACK.

Shiki admits she did find it strange that he didn't know anything about Shibuya or the Game. He says "Like you do?" and she says "Well, I don't know everything, BUT," and then changes the topic.

Obviously she doesn't want me to know how she knew things about the Game.

[sincere]

Shiki drops her cell phone and Neku observes the wallpaper, which appears to be Shiki and some mysterious other girl whose face is obscured. Shiki says that girl is someone in her class, and this is the picture she's been looking at when she fumbles with her phone--

OH LOOK NEKU THE MISSION MAIL WHAT A CONVENIENT TOPIC CHANGE

[sincere]

btw, Neku is the smartest of cookies, and he does see that and go "...wait, I thought I had her secret figured out, but she's still covering for something. There's more that she's hiding from me..."

But because he doesn't really do words, he doesn't say anything.

[sincere]

The mission is "Defeat the master of A-East. You have 360 minutes."

A-East is a concert arena, so off we go.

[sincere]

...And it turns out we were inside A-East! It was so dark we couldn't see anything. So we have to turn the lights on.

[sakusha]

I know Ritsuka asked the same question I think Sentience should get bored and start trolling everyone.

[sincere]

I forgive you! I told myself that I would copy-paste. X3

[sincere]

There's a dude right outside who needs help, and Shiki falls all over herself to volunteer, to Neku's dismay. Curious that this guy can see us...

The dude is from a band called 777 and he's missing his tech preparing for his concert. Shiki knows 777 and fangirls, but Neku is like "Whateverrrr" and yet agrees to help.

Shiki admires his helpfulness, and Neku thinks about how dumb she is again and points out that the tech will be able to turn on the lights.

[sincere]

Neku: Plus, that 777 guy is--
Shiki: LET'S GO.
Neku: /sigh

[sincere]

I go into a shop. We can become visible in stores with the Player decal on them so we can buy kickin' threads.

Is kickin' a thing people say?

[sincere]

Expositionary flashback time with Mr Hanekoma!

If any Player completes the mission, all Players get to survive another day. You do get graded, though.

Reapers also get graded. They come in two flavors: support (e.g. Wall) and Harrier. Harrier Reapers hunt Players, and if their scores are too bad, they get erased, just like the Players.

We're in "UG" Shibuya -- the Underground Shibuya, vs the Realground. They're two different planes of Shibuya. The UG is run by the Composer. More info than that is classified.

What about you, Mr. H? "BORN MARCH 3, BLOOD TYPE A. I'M A PISCES, AND A HIP CAFE BARISTA!" "I didn't ask for your personal ad," Neku tells him. "I'M A BIG GAMBLER. MY FAVORITE WORD IS 'WINDFALL'. I LIKE NATTO. AS FOR MY THREE SIZES--" Shiki only heard the word cafe.

Now for Fusions.

[sincere]

Mr. H and Shiki are both full of compliments about Neku's ability to use psychs, he has a lot more potential than is normal. Buuut Neku is really skeptical and dismissive of the Fusion psych. He has to sync with Shiki to use it, after all. And that's not happening.

Mr H: It takes more than just talent to use this pin. It takes style, if you know what I--
Neku: I'll do it. P.S., please call me by my fucking name.
Mr H: YOU GOT IT, PHONES!

[sincere]

But in spite of his irritation, Neku found him really charismatic, and wants to talk to him again. He doesn't know why...

[sincere]

We find the tech griping about how he should be a star, not a mechanic, damnit! He is really sulking, and Neku and Shiki realize that he's surrounded by Noise. We defeat the Noise and suddenly he snaps out of it, not sure why he's here or what he's doing but, fuck, he's late! And he runs off.

[sincere]

The tech still needs a fuse, though, so we run around some more. We find Beat and Rhyme again and Beat is so unhappy to see Neku. They explain memes to us: cats who can't spell but enjoy cheeseb--

Okay, memes are words or ideas related to the mission. When you hear one, your phones pick it up. Rhyme has the meme "blackout", and when she says it, Shiki gets a text about it.

Memes are for imprinting: sending a word into a person's thoughts, Beat drags Rhyme off before she can give us too much more information, though, to her displeasure and Neku's lack of caring.

[sincere]

With some judicious use of telepathy to help our stupid supporting cast, we get back in time to defeat the master of-- Or to fail, and Beat and Rhyme defeat the master while we bumble around. Hooray for friendship! Right, Neku??

[sincere]

Now it occurs to Shiki to question why 777 could see them, and Neku says casually, "Because he's a Reaper."

Mr. H explained to us that in UG Shibuya, we can't interact with normal people. The only people who can perceive our existence are Reapers, Players, and... well! Mr. H.

"Why am I even in this stupid Game," Neku wants to know. Mr. H says that Players come to the UG from the RG because they have something they want, and to enter the game they have to pay an entry fee, which is the thing they value most. Only the winner of the Game gets their entry fee back.

[sincere]

Rhyme has a moment of fear, wondering if they'll make it, and of all people Neku reassures her that we totally will. Shiki proposes we all work together, and Neku broods some more.

He doesn't know anything, about himself or the Game. But -- he knows these guys aren't enemies. He finally understands the "Trust your partner" thing Mr. H was telling him.

He says, "Don't drag me down," turning away tsunnily.

[sincere]

MEANWHILE, ELSEWHERE:

Tall chill guy with sunglasses and his hot fetish secretary discuss the Game. Six players were erased today, she reports. "That puts us at the 50% mark, one full day earlier than expected."

So probably less than a dozen pairs per Game.

[sincere]

"I have a feeling that tomorrow's Game will be very entertaining," Shades says with a malevolent smile!!

[sincere]

End of Week 1, the 3rd Day: "Who 2 Trust"

[slayerofgod]

You had to do this really late at night. D:

Bah, time zone differences.

[sincere]

Sad but true! I didn't get started until pretty late my time and it was slow going, though, so you probably didn't miss out too much. Next time I'll try to be awesomer.

[temples]

You are making this liveblogging thing seem really attractive.

[sincere]

It is really attractive! Because I like sharing things and rambling to myself and I hope people like reading the things after the fact. It's also going to be a handy way to keep track of details, I think.