darkSpyro

Diasi tilted her head slightly. "Uh oh?" she echoed.

[BY THE POWER OF BOREDOM AND A DEPLETION OF PATIENCE, I COMMAND THIS TOPIC TO RISE FROM ITS GRAVE!]

"If we're turning into video game characters, and I wound up with the notebook of a female character..." I explained, swallowing a lump in my throat. My longer hair was starting to make more sense now. I looked over at the Nagito-ized Felis. "It looks like Felis isn't going to be the only one of us that gets genderswapped."

I blinked, "...I really had hope that none of you guys would have to be so unlucky as me to get genderswapped, kind of ironic if you ask me, Nagito's supposed to be the Ultimate Lucky Student," I said and smiled slightly nervously, "...Not what I was expecting to happen at all this week, what are we gonna do now?"

Diasi shrugged. "I don't know," she said. "I don't think there's much that can be done about this."

I slowly nodded my head. Diasi was probably right. "Yeah, I guess I'll just have to deal with being a chick until we can figure out what's going on... IF we can figure it out..." I said to Felis. "Awkward question, I know, but... did it hurt?"

OoC: How many characters are we allowed?

I was also interested about Evan's newly-acquired dossiers, but I'd been so lost in thought about potential characters with hazel eyes that I had accidentally forgotten to voice my acknowledgement. Reaching more dead ends, I shook myself out of it and allowed Evan's voice to penetrate my realm of consciousness.
"-isn't going to be the only one of us that gets genderswapped."
I blinked. Uh oh. I got up to pat Evan on the shoulder comfortingly. "Sorry to hear," I told him sympathetically. "But we'll get you through this. We won't judge ya. After all, Prex lived to tell the tale..." However, I knew that novels full of comforts would not begin to smooth over the emotions my poor friend must be feeling.
"Would we need to find a safer haven?" I asked hesitantly. "Considering these changes...they're nothing that the world has ever seen. Or would be ready to see. The second we go out there in the eyes of the public, we're at risk." I knew it was quite early to bring that up, but I was sure it would need to be addressed sooner or later.

Diasi rolled her eyes. "Now you bring that up. After I get fox ears. Great thinking."

I offered a half-smile. "Thanks," I said. It wasn't much consolation, but the fact that I had caring friends willing to help me through this made it a little better. Looking at the broader side of things, Shadme had a good point. If we went out in public, our new forms might draw more than a few suspicious eyes. I would probably be fine, Elimisha is just a normal human that wound up in the wrong place at the wrong time. But what about my friends? We definitely needed someplace to avoid the public eye while we investigated the cause of this occurrence. And another thing: were we alone? Who was to say there weren't other innocent bystanders that fell victim to this mysterious force? I nodded. "Yeah, we should find someplace we'll be safe. Where, I'm not sure, but we'll find it and get through this together. We should keep our eyes peeled for anyone else like us, too."

((As many as you can handle really ^-^ ))

I blushed slightly when I was asked the very awkward question, "I-It was a little painful, but hey, I lived," I said, smiling awkwardly. I then listened to the conversation further, "...Personally the part I worry about the most is running into someone who recognize what characters we've become..." I added, frowning slightly.

Diasi gasped in realization. "Good point," she noted. "I mean, even if they don't recognize me, I'm a cute fox girl."

[Cool!]

Name: Justine
Gender: Female
Appearance: A moderately curvy 18 year-old girl of average height for her age. She has light green eyes, long straight brown hair and a beauty mark on her right cheek. Usually wears a blue t-shirt, black skirt and sandals.
Character they are turning into: Solar Flare
Game: Plants vs. Zombies Heroes
Other?: None.

"Okay," I blushed. "Sorry I asked," I responded to Felis. True, it's an awkward subject, and I kinda felt bad for bringing it up. I won't talk about it any more than I should...

OoC: Hmm... *goes through list of OCs*
Edit: Screw it, I'm gonna try two more characters instead of one more! I have a plan.

Name: Asuka Shima (online alias: Shada)
Gender: female
Appearance: Asuka is a slim, raven-haired teenager with narrow brown eyes. Her features are Asian in nature, as she lives on the other side of the globe. She enjoys wearing dark, patterned kimonos.
Character they are turning into: Dark Pit (pre-Rewind Spring level)
Game: Kid Icarus
Other?: Asuka is an Internet friend of Shadmé's and is Haruto's sister.

Name: Haruto Shima
Gender: male
Appearance: Haruto is a tall, clean-shaven young man with long, unkempt black hair and narrow brown eyes. Like Asuka, he is of Asian descent. He carries a suitcase of belongings with him wherever he goes, and typically wears a business casual outfit.
Character they are turning into: Pit
Game: Kid Icarus
Other?: He is Asuka's brother. He immigrated to America and is currently looking for a job in a town close to where everyone else is.

After taking a seat between my friends once more, I murmured "Sorry" to Diasi. As interesting as becoming a fictional character was, it would be a much different circumstance here, in suspicious, rule-based America, than in any of the fantasy worlds from which they'd come from. And not to mention...
Felis was right. I rubbed my hair sheepishly. The blunt way of putting it would be fangirls. We lived in a fairly welcoming neighborhood, but there was no way of knowing everyone. What if there were some crazies hiding around here somewhere? All the more reason to find a safe place.
"Does anyone have any places that would be welcoming and preferably not in use?" I asked, knowing it might be a long shot. "Vacation houses, for example? That would be a good start." A start indeed. A stone was starting to settle in my stomach at the mere thought of the next step- leaving a message behind for anyone that cared about us, assuring them that we'd be fine but had to be left alone.

(SHADME LOOK WHAT YOU'VE DONE I'VE GIVEN IN)
Name: Ura
Gender: Female
Appearance: Tall and slim with icy blue eyes and long, blue-black hair
Character they are turning into: Phosphora
Game: Kid Icarus
Other?: I dunno.

Diasi shrugged. "It's fine," she said. "I don't know anywhere. Maybe we could just run and hope we get somewhere?"

((Accepted~! ))

I paused to rest my chin on my fist, racking my brain for possible shelters. I had the idea that we could all camp in my basement, but that wouldn't get us anywhere. I couldn't think of any good places around town, and I didn't have anything that could serve the purpose. C'mon, think, Evan, think... it was when Shadme mentioned "vacation houses" that a light bulb went off in my head. "Ooh, I have an idea!" I announced to the group. "One of my friends has a vacation home out of town that I'm sure she'd let us borrow." The friend in question was a girl by the name of Justine. Her parents have a lot of money, so of course they'd use it to buy a luxury like that.

I listened to Evan curiously, "That could probably work, though how do you think she'd react to the situation we're in?" I asked my friend, wondering how this would all work out for us.

OoC: Accept the obsession, Fury! Accept it!

"I'm not sure I'd be willing to take that bet, Diasi," I grimaced. "I think if we made a run for it, we'd get caught faster than we would laying low. Plus, who knows who I'm turning into? What if I become someone who's unable to defend herself- or himself- properly?"
Thankfully, I didn't have to dwell on that unsettling thought for much longer. Evan had an idea. "Hey, that sounds perfect!" I responded. "That is, if you're friend's cool with it. Do you suppose he'd be willing to host some transforming strangers?"

Haruto looked at his phone, pulling up the GPS map on it. He had a hotel booked around here somewhere, but he just couldn't find it. Even now, a few years after he'd moved in to this strange new country, it was somewhat amusing as to how he could get lost so easily.
Haruto was a diligent young man. He could do something, and then proceed to continue doing it very well for a long time. He'd secured a job doing just that from the moment he'd arrived in America. But Haruto wasn't the kind to take what he'd been given and keep it that way. He was sure that he could find something bigger and better to do. And so, he'd carefully saved away his money for years. Now, for the first time, he'd withdrawn the sum he'd made and was off on his own, wandering across the country, in order to find something that would stick out to him. He'd been through the big cities, and so far the hustle and bustle didn't seem to fit him. Haruto knew he'd have to study his environment first before he could begin working effectively, and the ever-moving American cities were not quite doing that for him. (Not to mention, the prices for shelter and food were outrageous!)
So now he was setting his sights on something smaller. The hotel he was seeking wasn't in the best condition, but at least he'd be able to gather his bearings and get in contact with his sister until he could figure out what to do next. His sister was young, much younger than him, but to Haruto, she was precious. Wiping the sweat gathering on his forehead, he smiled. She was always interested in his adventures, and wanted to follow in his footsteps one day. She kept him sane, and for that, Haruto was grateful.

"Do they have Wi-Fi, big brother?"
Asuka was laying on her bed, trying to ignore the disorganized room that seemed much filthier than normal. She knew if her mother or father walked in, they'd have a fit. But for now, she was continuing to procrastinate on her chores. It was evening, anyway, so she was pretty sure that her parents would agree that it was much too late for chores. Besides, she had Haruto on the phone line! How often did that happen nowadays?
"Yeah, yeah they do. Surprisingly." Haruto chuckled a slight bit. "It's kinda crappy here."
"What's it like? Tell me, tell me!"
"Well," her brother began, "it's small, for one. Nothing I can't handle. But I think their cleaners are cutting corners. There's still dust around the edges. Not to mention, it was really cheap. There had to be something wrong with this room for them to price it like that."
"Always so negative!" Asuka scolded him. "You have free time for once! You should connect your 3DS to that Wi-Fi and play an online match with me!"
"I suppose. H-hey wait a second, that doesn't mean I said I'd-!"
Asuka pumped her fist in victory. She and Haruto were going to play a video game together, finally, whether he liked it or not! Even though he deemed himself a "casual," in her eyes, there was no better video game partner than her brother. She had taught him a lot, but he'd learned quickly. Now, they were about even in whatever games they played, from Smash Bros. to Mario Kart. "So whaddaya wanna play? Huh, huh?"
He sighed, relenting. "Doesn't matter to me. You pick, Asuka."
"Okay! How about..." Asuka rolled over to sift through her cartridges. "...Kid Icarus: Uprising?"
"That'll do. Hey! It's already in my 3DS. That's kind of strange. I could've sworn I had Smash Bros. in there last time..."

OoC: Haruto's a rebel and speaks Japanese most of the time, so I'll just put his words in italics and quotes.

Oh... well, there's a bit of a roadblock. I hadn't really thought about how Justine would react to hearing that we'd been transforming into video game characters. She's on the skittish side, the kind of person who can't stand to watch while waiting for her toast to pop out of the toaster, so something as strange and outlandish as this- well, I don't know how she'd take it. I guess the least I could do was try to explain our sitch and hope she'd be willing to help us... I grabbed my cell phone and sent her a text explaining everything that had happened thus far, from the video game playing, to the random sickness, to the transformations. "I think she'd be willing to help," I said hopefully. "As long as Justine knows you're with me, she'll understand."

Justine was laying on her bed with her tablet in hand, her long brown hair spread across the sheets when it happened. Ever since Evan- He's not my boyfriend, Mom! -had introduced her to the highly successful Plants vs. Zombies series, she'd been addicted. She'd played all the way through the original tower defense game and its sequel back-to-back, was a regular player of its FPS spinoffs Garden Warfare and its sequel, and just in time for summer, she was lucky enough to receive an early access copy of their newest game, Heroes, which she'd been playing all day. So naturally, she was less than thrilled when an odd feeling washed over her. It was an odd feeling of fatigue and nausea, and it was enough for her to put down the game. She sighed; Well, this is just great, she mused, setting the device on her bed stand. She hoped she hadn't caught some weird bug going around. Her mom had said she couldn't spend all summer playing games inside. Maybe she's right... the teenage girl begrudgingly agreed. Maybe she'd feel better after getting a little fresh air...
The second the summer sunlight hit her skin, she was instantly greeted by relief. All those previous symptoms melted away as she took a deep breath. Well, what do you know, Mom was right about something for once! Just basking in the sun's rays gave her a new feeling of positive energy unlike any she had felt before. She felt like she could take on the world!

So his friend's a she. I quickly muttered a correction to my pronoun. "That's good to hear," I said with a nod. "Unless my transformation somehow winds up being negative, and somehow winds up taking over my personality, I'm pretty sure she has nothing to fear from me! Like that would happen, anyway." I chuckled, but my heart wasn't in it. As exciting as it would be to become a fictional character that I (likely) admired, there was starting to be a lot of complexity involved, what with the hiding, gender-bending and other adjustments. I couldn't afford to be cocky. I had to keep a level head about this.
"Would she have any mutual interests with any of us? Video gaming, art, music, the like?" I wondered next, trying to lead the conversation to a lighter subject. "Perhaps she'll warm up to us easier if we prove that we have things in common."

"It's probably no big deal, Haruto," Asuka murmured. "Did you switch it out, then forget?"
Haruto ran a finger over the tip of the cartridge poking out of the 3DS. "I'm not sure," he replied. "I already beat Kid Icarus- besides the multiplayer matches with you, there's been no reason to replay it...wait up. Let me just make sure I still have Smash Bros." The dark-haired male dragged his suitcase closer, and with a few effortless motions, he'd unlocked it, flipped the case up and dug through the pouch containing his video games. "Yup...here it is. Thank God." Haruto deemed Smash Bros. a worthy purchase. It was practically made to play with others. However, he hated wasting money, and if the game were to disappear, then he would be quite upset.
"Yay! Let's get playing, then!" called his enthusiastic sister through the phone.
Haruto cracked a smile. Enough time had been spent on a problem that probably didn't matter. Asuka was probably right. He probably did switch it out sometime...
Once the cartridge was in all the way, he booted up Kid Icarus. Asuka loved the game, having heard of it from an online friend of hers. Kid Icarus seemed her style- goofy dialogue and characters, strategic battle situations, and precise controls. Haruto had bought the game merely to play with Asuka, but he hadn't quite yet found the charm that she had latched onto. Despite that, he had to admit that Pit got a laugh from him every now and then, though Hades was his favorite character.
"Let's do a free-for-all to warm up," Haruto suggested. "Then we can play some Light VS Dark."
"Sounds good!" Asuka chirped. "I call Dark Team!"
"Of course you do," Haruto chuckled. "Once we're done warming up, we'll have to see who can win the most matches. I'll bet I will beat you."
"No way! I'm the undisputed Kid Icarus champion! ...Of this house, anyway. Shadmé would kill me if I tried to take her title."
"We'll see about that!" Haruto decided to equip his character with Palutena's Bow, the iconic weapon of the franchise. It had been quite tricky to unlock, but with these modifiers, it was sure to be worth it! "Let the game begin."

I offered a short laugh at Shadmé's comment. "I wouldn't go that far." To be honest, I thought she could get kinda scary when she's mad. But I digress. "Hmm, let's see... As far as interests go, I don't know any specifics, but I do that she's the intellectual type," I mused, figuring that I should focus on video games- for obvious reasons. "She likes puzzle and strategy-based games, games that reward clever thinking." I could relate with that. While I prefer more action-oriented games, I enjoy the occasional strain on the brain. "I recently got her into Plants vs. Zombies, if that's anything to go by."

Diasi had stopped paying attention to the conversation when she noticed the appearance of a tail. She realized just how soft it was and started stroking it with her hand. She rejoined the conversation after she heard something about Plants vs Zombies with a "Wait what are we talking about?"

It wasn't long after she stepped out into the oddly refreshing sunshine that Justine's phone buzzed in her pocket, and she smiled when she discovered that Evan had sent her a text. It only brightened up her day more. With a flick of her finger, she opened the new text and began reading. The text told a story of how Evan and a few of his friends had experienced a few odd symptoms after a video-gaming session that they would've brushed off as just a random bout of illness... Hm, that's odd, I felt a little uneasy myself earlier, she thought as she continued through the message. Apparently, after that, they noticed a few major physical changes in themselves, with Felis seeming to become somebody else entirely! He developed a theory that they were transforming into the characters of the games they were playing. Whoa, she thought, staring at the text with awe. Turning into a video game character... that sounds awesome! The text finished by saying that they would need a place to stay while they figured this out, and he asked if they could stay at her vacation home. A feeling of importance and excitement made itself at home in her heart; she had been playing games too! Maybe she'd become a character! As thrilling as that prospect was, though, she knew she had to help her friend first. She eagerly texted back:

"Sure, you're welcome to use our summer house; I'm sure Mom and Dad won't mind. That sounds so cool! I've got to see this for myself. I'll be over in a jiff!"

Before she set off towards Evan's house, she made a quick stop by her bathroom to check herself in the mirror. She squinted, leaning in, looking for the slightest thing that might've changed. Alas, she didn't notice anything. Her eager smile faded and was replaced with a frown of disappointment. Oh, well... I guess Evan just got lucky. But this didn't deter her from wanting to see Evan and co., so, she quickly scrawled a note for her parents that she was gone, stepped back out into the sun's warm embrace, mounted her bicycle and headed in Evan's direction; she lived on the opposite side of town from him, so it would be a while before she got there.

I glanced over curiously to see if Evan's expression could tell me if the plan worked or not. I was still concerned about this whole ordeal, and thinking back to what I panicked about before sent a shiver down my spine. Nagito's dangerous, he's insane, and he has a problem. I just really hope that I didn't go crazy like he actually does, it's scary and I don't want to put my friends in danger. The concern of a shortened life also didnt help things settle in my mind...

My face lit up as Justine sent her response text back, and to my relief, she said yes! "Alright everyone, Justine's secured us a safehouse, and she'll be over in a few minutes." She seemed really enthused about our transformations in her message. I kind of envied her naivete.

"Wait, what?" Diasi felt conflicting emotions at this statement. She wanted to befriend her, to play with her, but she also wanted to hide. "Agh, I can't make sense of any of these stupid thoughts!" she cried in frustration. "Are they mine or Selkie's? I can't tell anymore."

Ura put down her teal 3DS with a groan as she felt slightly nauseous. She made sure her Kid Icarus: Uprising game was paused, she didn't want to die in the middle of one of her favourite levels. She took a moment to look at the image of Phosphora, her favourite character, on the screen before the continuing nausea pressed her to get up. She got herself some water and hoped it would do something. After all, there wasn't much else she could do at the moment.

I smiled a small smile and chuckled slightly, "Hope is on our side, for now," I said with a smile, something might have seemed...off about me at the moment. I still knew I was myself, but the tone, and the attitude, it just didn't quite seem like the Felis everyone knew and loved. Was it possible that Nagito's unstable personality was what I was catching?

I nodded thoughtfully, trying to brainstorm any games that we might mutually enjoy. But those thoughts were discarded as soon as Evan reported her response to us. Justine would be willing to give us a sanctuary! We'd be safe!
Hearing Diasi's distress, I turned to her, concerned. "Well, I can't hear your thoughts," I said, trying to slip a bit of humor into it, "but from your words, I think you're still in control. As long as you're not thinking anything...detrimental, I'm sure you'll be fine."

Asuka furrowed her eyebrows, concentrating hard on the match at hand. Haruto had won the warm-up free-for-all, and he had also won three LVD matches compared to Asuka's two victories. In fact, he'd practically pulled the Palutena Bow out of his butt! Where did he get that thing, anyway? Haruto had alerted her to the fact that he'd only play a few more before he had to get back into job searching, so she knew she had to make these last few count. Just two more wins, she comforted herself. Just two more wins.
Right now she was equipped with the Silver Bow, Dark Pit's signature weapon. She'd been replaying a level and had gotten a Silver Bow with some interesting modifiers. It wasn't a weapon type Asuka used very often, but she was feeling desperate for any edge she could get over her brother.
Her soldier clashed with a CPU on the light team. Unleashing the angel ring that was the bow's combo, it was enough to finish off the enemy. A quick glance to the enemy's life gauge showed that her brother would likely be turning into Pit soon. She could win! She just had to find him.
"Why so quiet, Asuka?"
"I'm concentrating, Haruto! Don't mess me up!"
He laughed. Haruto showing any obvious signs of amusement was a rarity, and just the sound of it was enough to make Asuka smile. "I think that's my goal, as your enemy!"
"Aw, shut up!" Running her character over the ground, she had to slow him down so he didn't tire out. A beacon of light directed her to her brother's location, and so she began walking there. However, she didn't anticipate a light warrior wearing speed-modifying claws to zoom up to her and slash apart her remaining life.
"Guess who's Dark Pit now? I'm coming for you, Pitty-Pat!" As soon as she respawned as the dark angel, she found she was now equipped with the Dark Pit Staff. Good. A sniping weapon. It should be easy to take Haruto out from a distance.
"Okay, Pittoo. Good luck finding me."
"Oh, you bet I will! And don't call me that!" A couple members of the light team started heading for Asuki, but she turned Dark Pit away, trying to preserve her health as much as possible. She found Haruto was in the middle of it. "How'd you get them to surround you like that?"
"Huh? Oh...that is weird." Their angel characters clashed, the soldiers giving them space for some reason. "I didn't actually plan that."
It seemed that as soon as they were in the same location, Asuka's 3DS turned off. "I didn't plan that, either. Well. My 3DS just turned off, in case you're wondering..."
"Mine did too. I could've sworn it was at full battery when we were playing." Haruto's voice came in somewhat grainy through the phone.
"That sucks!" Asuka complained. "I was totally going to beat you!"
"I'm sure you were." Haruto sighed. "It seems my system wanted me to get back to work. I'm sorry, Asuka."
Asuka sighed as well. "It's fine...but text me, okay? Your phone quality doesn't sound the greatest either."
"I will, I promise. Bye for now. It's pretty late for you now, isn't it? Get some sleep, please."
"Fiiine, I'll try! Bye, brother." Hanging up the phone, Asuka turned to her 3DS next, sleep the furthest thing on her mind until she could figure out what was going on with the thing. Pressing the power button proved futile, so she instead plugged it into the charger in the wall. That's really strange. My 3DS has never done that before. Perhaps Shadmé will know what to do.

While I was glad Justine booked us a place to crash, tension was starting to build in the room. Diasi's little outburst aside, I noticed something a little more subtle with Felis. "Hope is on our side for now," -something seemed a little off about the way she said that. Diasi mentioned that Selkie's thoughts were getting mixed up with her own- could whatever force was transforming us be affecting our minds as well as our bodies? And if that's the case, could Nagito's personality be seeping into Felis's? That's kind of a disturbing thought. I would've commented about it, but I didn't want to seem rude, so I casually nodded at her and flipped through my dino dossiers to try and take my mind off of that thought. I really hope Justine gets here soon...

Diasi nodded, Shadmé's words slightly comforting. "Nothing detrimental, just..." she fumbled for the right words. "Not normal, I guess. Normally I hear about people I don't know and I want to hide, but right now I just want to run out and greet them and hug them and play with them...."

Ura felt no better after her glass of water was gone, and it worried her, since usually that helped. She walked out the door and took a deep breath. It was something she often did to calm down, and it made her feel a little better. It was odd, but she wasn't going to complain about it.

As Justine rode down the street with the summer breeze on her face, she couldn't help but notice something odd. It was a decently hot day and in spite of this exercise, she hadn't even broken a sweat. Weirder still, this high temperature didn't feel uncomfortable at all, if anything, the sun's sweltering heat made her feel more energetic. It gave her a weird sense of... "fullness", for lack of a better word, as if she had just eaten a nice lunch. Justine was normally partial to colder weather, contrasting with Evan, whose "comfortably warm" was most people's "unbearably hot". She thought it gave them a nice juxtaposition. Peculiar, but she decided not to question it. She had almost arrived at the Casa de Evan, and unbeknownst to her, the ends of her hair had become a yellowish color and started curling upwards.

I blinked, looking at Evan, the Nagito side of myself almost asked him about what was bothering him, because, well, it seemed like something had bothered my friend. Though, luckily the girl that he had mentioned before who had the place where we were going to stay had soon came into view. I looked out the window, "Evan, Looks like you're friend's here," I said in Nagito's casual tone of voice, and voice for that matter too. I just seemed too calm and casual about the whole situation, too calm that it seemed a little creepy.

Diasi frowned as she continued to have conflicting thoughts on the new person's arrival. Did she want to give her a friendly, energetic Selkie greeting? Or her more usual cautious one? She couldn't tell anymore.

I looked up from my notebook at the sound of Nagito- er, Felis's voice when she mentioned that my friend's here. There was still something off about her tone, almost in a creepy sense. But deciding it would be best not to question it for now, I got up from my recliner and walked to the door. "Thanks, Felis," I commented before stepping out to greet Justine.

No sooner than she had parked her bike and put down the kickstand did Justine look up to see her not-boyfriend walking out the door to his house. "Evan!" she greeted him with an enthusiastic grin, surprising him with a hug attack. He offered a friendly chuckle. "Hey, Justine," he said, throwing his arms around her."It's great to see you."
She looked up with a smile, noting that his hair had gone from blonde to brown, and his eyes blue to green, a little like her, in fact. This must be a part of the transformation he mentioned in his text. "Heh, nice hair," she joked, with Evan replying with a roll of his emerald eyes. "So, you guys are turning into video game characters, huh? Who are you becoming?"

"Oh, me?" I replied to my not-girlfriend. "I'm becoming Elimisha from ARK." She just tilted her head, her expression reading Who? "Yeah, I didn't think you'd know who that is. What you really need to know is-" I gave a defeated sigh, blushing slightly. "I might turn into a chick..." Justine had an initial look of shock like she didn't expect to hear that- and really, who could've? -but that quickly faded. "Oh, sorry to hear... but don't worry, I won't judge."
"Thanks," I repeated my same response as when Shadmé had consoled me earlier. "So, you want me to introduce my friends?"
"Sure!" she answered oddly cheerfully, walking for the door. I looked at her confused as she walked past. That's weird... Justine's not normally that eager to meet new people... and hold on, when did she dye the ends of her hair blonde like that?

Diasi fidgeted nervously with her tail. She heard the conversation clearly, having removed the earmuffs to try to get used to her ears. She looked up, still toying with her tail, as someone entered the room. "Uh, hi," she mumbled. "I'm Diasi, at least I'm pretty sure I still am. Am I?" She tried to look at herself.

I smiled, before getting up as well, being now five foot eleven was certainly a change and I probably was taller than a few people here. I walked up behind the two and saw the new girl. I hadn't noticed at all how creepy it was as to how quiet I had got up and walked over. "Ah, so this is your friend that's helping us out?" I asked with a smile, and soon held out a hand to her, "It's nice to meet you, Justine right?" I asked her, remembering Evan mention her name before. "I hope you don't get trapped in the same predicament as we are, I'd hate to see someone else get trapped in such a mess,"

Retaining a shadow of her usual skittish nature, Justine flinched when Felis had crept up on them and introduced herself. "Oh, uh, hi," she shook the girl-turned-Nagito's hand with a nervous laugh. "You must be Felis. Wow, you really startled me!" she said, quickly regaining her posture. When she heard Evan's friend describe their situation in such a negative light, she looked puzzled. "Why would that be a bad thing? I'm jealous of you guys! Turning into a video game character sounds awesome! Well, okay, I guess going from X to Y chromosomes and vice versa can't be all that fun, but still!"

I pulled Justine aside. "Well, here's the thing..." I explained the diseases that Felis may have contracted as a result of her spontaneous transformation. "Oh... I didn't think about that..." she said, her tone suddenly somber, looking back at Felis. "I'm really sorry to hear that. Does Elimisha-?"
"Not that I'm aware of."
"Okay, good," she breathed with relief. "Well, even then, it is kind of a neat little spectacle! I just wish I wasn't left out..."
"Say, Justine, you seem a lot more energetic than usual today..." I commented, then added: "Also I like what you did with your hair."

"What do you mea-" she cut herself off as she noticed the golden blonde curls attached to her brunette locks. "Whoa, how'd that happen?" she inquired as she held her hair, intrigued.

OoC: Don't forget Diasi said hi to Justine as well, Skyhunter! ^.^

I watched Evan walk out of the house to greet who must've been Justine. Man, she got here fast! I was kind of jealous, especially seeing that she'd taken a bike. I wasn't the most unfit person out there, but I knew there was no way in Skyworld I would've travelled as quickly as she had over what must've been quite a distance. She must've been excited to see Evan again. I chuckled. Perhaps I'd tease him about that later. He seemed to be quite excited about Justine.
I decided to poke my head out of the door. Diasi was still waiting inside, hovering beyond the doorframe, while Felis had opted to follow Evan. There didn't seem to be too many people outside so far- perhaps Justine would be alright with me introducing myself in full if I was conspicuous.
"Hi, Justine!" I greeted, trying not to shock her. "I'm Shadmé. Thank you so much for doing this for us!"

Asuki grabbed her phone and pulled up her Skype. Shadmé lived all the way across the globe, in America. Despite the distance, they were quite good friends. The two had met on a role-play board, and quickly enjoyed conjuring scenarios and new characters to try out. Their friendship increased further when each girl discovered they had similar taste in video games. Shadmé, though, had been the one to introduce Asuki to Kid Icarus, something that she had, in turn, spread to Haruto. If Asuki hadn't been so excited about talking to Haruto, she would've texted Shadmé to see if she'd been interested to join the match.
Hey, she sent simply. I have a problem- are you free to talk? Surely that should catch Shadmé's attention enough for her to respond. Shadmé usually left her status as online, but for some reason, she didn't seem to be active at this moment...

In the midst of pondering the origins of the yellow highlights, Justine looked up at the sound of another voice, another female voice this time. "Oh, hi Shadmé!" she replied. "Yeah, it's no problem. I'm happy to help!" She noticed someone else lingering by the door, who had feebly introduced herself. Was she a kitsune? That's adorable! Diasi looked awfully shy, and Justine could relate, so she just replied with a friendly wave.

Diasi smiled. She mived a little closer, Selkie's curiosity being fully set in due to her own, even if she was usually more cautious. "You don't know what happened to your hair?" she asked. "I wonder why that is."

My phone buzzed. Fishing around in my pocket for it, I realized it was from my online friend Shada. From the looks of it, she seemed to be in a bit of a pickle. "Pardon me a moment," I excused myself, vanishing back indoors to text my friend back: Hi! Responses may be spotty, but I'm here. What's wrong? Shada was being surprisingly vague. I hoped it wasn't a problem that required us to talk on the phone. I felt that would be rude, especially since I was at another friend's house.
It's a Kid Icarus: Uprising technical issue.
Ah, okay, I typed back, relieved it wasn't something concerning her health. I can try to help you!
Yeah. Well, I was playing an online match with my brother, and both our games shut off at the same time. Now my 3DS won't turn on.
I frowned. That seemed strange. Maybe it was a connectivity issue combined with low battery? Didn't you say your brother didn't live with you anymore?
I did but my 3DS wasn't on low battery. I'm sure of it. Neither was his. And plus, don't 3DS' give you notifications when you lose connection?
I knew Shada was right, but I couldn't think of any other reason for her 3DS to behave like that. Ask Nintendo, lol, I suggested. It might be a software-related issue. Sorry I can't help much.
Shada didn't respond back right away. Huh. That was odd. She was one of the most kindhearted people I knew, and would always make sure to text me the reason whenever she felt she'd be taking a while to respond. Come to think of it, her responses had seemed rather clipped. Perhaps the 3DS thing was bumming her out more than I'd thought...

Ura went back into her house and went to brush her hair. When looking in the mirror, she gasped. Her hair was blonde, and considerably shorter. "Huh, I don't remember doing that," she mumbled. It looked familiar. She shrugged it off and grabbed her 3DS, only to see a black screen. It didn't react to anything, and she sighed. "So much for that."

I chuckled a little, "Sorry, I didnt mean anything bad," I added with a smile, "And yep, I'm Felicity, though Nagito now by the looks of it," I told her, and listened what the two had to say, and did hear mention of the two diseases I panicked about before, "You really don't have to worry about me, honestly. I personally don't know why you would worry so much about someone like me, but to each to their own opinions I suppose," I added, saying such a thing in a cool, calm and collected manner would obviously throw someone off about me...

"What." I flatly commented, dumbfounded at how nonchalantly Felis had shrugged off our concerns for her health. "Uh, did you just forget the tiny little detail that you might die soon!? As in, 'you're not coming back from this' dying? Weren't you panicking about that just a few minutes ago? And what do you mean, 'we shouldn't worry about someone like you'? You're my friend! Of course I'm going to worry about you! Especially when death is on the line!" I got a bit more heated there than I'd like to admit, but seriously, I don't kid around when it comes to something like this. "You don't seem yourself, Felis. You've been acting weird..." I finally confessed. This was getting to be too much to ignore.

"Yeah, I don't know, it wasn't like this when I left, and I doubt there's any hair-styling ninjas around here..." Justine said, looking at the blonde highlights. "The last thing I did before I left was playing a game on my tablet..." She cut herself short at the sudden realization. "Holy guacamole! Maybe I am transforming! Awesome!" Though she was excited, she was mentally kicking herself; how had she not put two and two together before that? After that, she curiously looked over at Shadmé. "Watcha doin?"

((I'm enjoying making myself act like Nagito way too much lmao ))

I couldn't help but still keep cool through all of this, despite how morbid the situation really was. "Hahah, wow," I added, "The amount of hope you have is impressive sometimes, you guys would be perfectly fine without me, but no, you decide to stay concerned about me," I added, keeping the smile on my face, "I guess it's just my luck," I then added, "And not acting like myself? Why wouldn't I be acting like myself? I don't see anything wrong with the way I'm acting," I then added. "But besides that, I don't get why there's so much concern, I'd be the one to put you guys back the most, I'm the one most affected so far by this disease, and Nagito being so popular and well known, I could be the very reason that we get caught, so in all, I'm a danger to everyone's safety here," I said, and then spoke once more, "But enough of my blabbering on, I guess we have more important manners to speak of than me, such as how far is the summer house? We'd have to get there unnoticed,"

OoC: Lol, this is great.

"Hm?" I poked my head up, seeing Justine was curious about what I was doing. "My online friend, Shada, was having a video game problem. It was kind of strange. I've never seen a malfunction quite like the one she described." Aimlessly, my eyes drifted back to my phone. Still nothing from Shada. What was up?

Haruto was finding quickly that he could not concentrate on his work.
Even though the connection error that had caused their systems to blow up had been the perfect excuse for him to get back to what he'd been doing previously, he just couldn't get back into the swing of it. Irritating. He prided himself on his dedication to whatever was on his mind, after all, and this was unacceptable!
Against his better judgement, he figured a small break outside in the fresh air would do him some good. Making sure his hotel key was in a pocket, Haruto stepped out of his room, walked down the hallway, and pushed open the door. He felt a bit antsy to get outside, actually. Being cooped up in the room made him feel crowded. He wanted to see the sky.
Where did that thought come from? Haruto wondered, retreating to a bench and inhaling deeply. It was nice out here. Except for the sun shining unusually brightly in his eyes. He rubbed them, wondering where the newfound sensitivity had come from. Dropping his guard slightly, Haruto reclined on the bench and closed his eyes, unaware of the color and shape change his eyes were undergoing.

Diasi didnt know Felis very well, but she'd been nearby long enough to realize this wasn't normal behaviour. She couldn't really say too much about it, Selkie's energy seemed to be influencing her as well. She turned to Shadmé when she heard her speak. "A malfunction?" she echoed. "What happened?"

Ura went outside again and decided to go for a walk. Maybe when she got back her 3DS would work again. She kept that thought in mind as she walked along the street.

OoC: If you don't wanna have Ura encounter the main group yet, you could have her run into Haruto! He's around there.

"Well," I began to explain to my growing audience, "my friend was apparently playing Kid Icarus online with her brother when her game suddenly and abruptly shut off. She confirmed that the game did not give her a connection error message, nor was her battery low. I guess it must be a 3DS issue and not a game problem, but I'm not too sure. It sounds really weird. You wouldn't happen to know anything about fixing 3DS', would you?"

I listened to Shadme tell us what was going on, "As much as I wish I could prove to be somewhat useful, I don't know...Unless...." I thought for a moment, and then looked over at the door, "I'm going to go and get my computer, If what I think the problem is does happen to me as well, on a different device, we may have our solution," I responded, and walked over to the door, "My house isn't that far, but follow me at your own risk, I don't want anyone to get caught because of me," I added, and put on my shoes and was about to exit through the front door...

(I think that's a good idea actually Imma do that)

Diasi shrugged. "I mean I'm pretty okay with technology. If you clicked something and didn't know what you did I could probably help you there. But that's pretty useless right now," she said.

Ura saw someone on a bench ahead of her. She wondered what he was doing and paused beside him, staring. She didn't recognize him, but she watched him anyway.

"Well, thanks anyway," I said, smiling at Diasi. I supposed it was a vague and unusual diagnosis for the 3DS, and it was going to be very difficult to help Shada further since 1: she didn't provide more details and 2: we didn't have the physical 3DS here to inspect. I was hoping that, for her sake, it was a fluke and not her 3DS deciding to randomly break down.
I tilted my head as Felis hinted she might have an idea of a solution. I was definitely intrigued, though I hadn't a clue as to what had given her the thought in the first place. No matter what, I felt it wise to follow her. "Yeah, your house is right next to mine!" I chuckled. "I'll come with you." I waved at the others, trying to catch their attention for a moment. "We're going to be stopping at Felis' house quickly, alright? We shouldn't be gone long!" Seeing as I hadn't taken the time to remove my shoes or anything, I hung out by the door, while waiting for Felis to be ready. "I think we'll be fine, hopefully. I haven't changed all that much yet, and it's not too long of a walk. Keep your head down and move swiftly, and all should be well. There weren't too many people out and about, last I checked."

Haruto had been enjoying his brief moments in the sun when, all of a sudden, he detected the sound of footsteps. Jolting awake and suspicious once more, he turned quickly to try and locate the source. A blonde-haired girl was watching him. He gave her a blue-eyed stare before getting up and walking over the short distance. He wasn't usually the most social type, but before he knew it he was a few steps away from her and opening his mouth to speak. "Hi. Um, are you looking for someone?" he tried in English. Something told him she wasn't Japanese, like he was. As much as he preferred speaking in his native language, he could handle English so long as the conversation didn't get long and complicated.