RPG Maison Otaku

[Manic Webb]

Meet Manic...
[color=darkblue]"Hello"[/color]
Manic is an emancipated minor, currently living in The City and attending Local High School.
[color=darkblue]"What's its name?"[/color]
Pardon?
[color=darkblue]"What's the name of the local high school?"[/color]
Local. Local High School.
[color=darkblue]"..."[/color]
I don't make this stuff up, people!
[color=darkblue]"Fine, fine. Finish your narrative."[/color]
Gladly. *ahem* With graduation fast approaching, Manic searches frantically for a good college-- but will the colleges accept him? With his history of poor marks and less-than-acceptable attendance, his only option is to score well on the SAT's. But will he find the time to study with constant interruptions from his neighbors and the beautiful new building manager? Will Manic's test scores survive the walls of...

[center][size=4]MAISON OTAKU?[/size]

[b][u]CAST[/u][/b]
(sign-ups still open for new tenants)
Manic as [b]Manic D'Presse[/b]
Shinmaru as [b]Shinmaru Lestrange[/b]
Unborn Lord Xion as [b]Xion Megalomana[/b]
Boba Fett as [b]Al K. Seltzer[/b]
Cyriel as [b]Valerian "Valerie" Pietrangelo[/b]
starlight as [b]Ayumi Akuma[/b]
Avalon as [b]Celestrial "Cela Femme" Duvet[/b]
sublime2004 as [b]Smokey Nag Champa McBurnout[/b]
Balinese as [b]Katerina Tabitha "Kat" Felin[/b][/center]

[b]Notes: [/b] This is a comedy, so feel free to let your characters get a little crazy. Most comedies are fairly fast-paced, so don't feel bad if your post is only one or two short paragraphs. However, once this RPG gets going (after your character's inital introduction), I urge you to squeeze as many jokes as possible into your posts. Just don't get [i]too[/i] random. :)

------------------------

Manic had flung the door open as he walked through the front door of Masion Otaku. In a fit of drama-queen-like excitement, he quickly spun around and dropped himself on the bottom steps of the building's staircase.

"I'll never score well on those damn SATs," he cried. He then started punding on one of the steps with his fist. "Why?! For what reason?! Is there some kind of cosmic joke that won't allow me to succeed? Am I destined to sell bootleg CDs out the trunk of my car for the rest of my days? Okay, so maybe I don't have a car-- or a way to make bootleg CDs..."

"Chill out, Manic," said the voice of another tenant. "You know what you need to loosen up? A party!" They said this in a way almost menacing. A frightened look came upon Manic's face.

[sublime2004]

[b][size=1]OOC: I just gotta say that this is my first comedic RPG and I hope I don't screw it up.[/b][/size]

[b][color=darkgreen][size=1]
IC: "Plus you need to stop talking to yourself. People'll start thinkin' you're like me." told Smokey Nag Champa McBurnout. "I'm havin' this big bash over at my place this friday. It's the first one I've had since I got un-crazied."

"Un-crazied, you say?" laughed Manic, "Is that a technical term?"

"Oh, yeah. It's real popular in my social circle."

"What social circle?" asked Manic increduously, "You haven't left your apartment since that old lady down the street called the cops on you for screaming 'Ahhh! Kill the damn flying monkeys! Ahhh!'"

"You have a valid point." accepted Smokey, "But, that's what this party'll remedy."

"Did you say you're throwing a party, Smokey?" asked another resident from down the hall...[/b][/size][/color]

[Cyriel]

Smokey immediately froze, and he had a grimace on his face as he turned to face the other resident. He muttered under his breath, looking down at his feet. "Uh...yeah, a party."

"Oh really? That's great! When is it?" The voice belonged to a girl. She came out into the hallway, revealing her slender figure. Her gray eyes were clear and bright, sparkling with mischief. She tucked a strand of her short black hair behind her ear, her smile sweet and alluring, but also with the same hint of wryness included.

Smokey muttered something inaudible, and the girl smiled, a sarcastic look coming to her face. Whatever she was going to say, however, never came out, because at that moment, she spotted Manic in the hallway, behind Smokey.

Completely ignoring Smokey, she came quickly towards Manic, her luminous eyes fixed on his face, and her mouth opening into another wondrous smile. "Oh, I haven't met you. Did you just move here? What's your name?"

Manic swallowed, and then licked his dry lips. His first attempt to speak was unsuccessful, but he finally got enough spit in his mouth to utter, "Manic - I'm Manic."

Her voice seemed to flower in the air, sweet with innocent nectar. "Oh, Manic, that's such an interesting name! Oh, I'm being rude, I haven't introduced myself." She held out her hand, shaking his gently. "I'm Valerian Pietrangelo, but please, call me Valerie. I just moved here recently myself, and Smokey is one of the only people I've met so far. I'm so glad to have met you." All Manic could manage to do was smile and nod. His knees felt weak, and he prayed that he didn't collapse onto the floor.

Suddenly, he felt the air being pushed out his lungs as Valerie hugged him fiercely, saying in excitement, "Oh my gosh! You're so adorable! I can't believe I haven't noticed you before!!"

[I]Adorable?[/I] Manic quickly tried to free himself, panic setting in at Valerie's loud display of emotion. "Wait - wait - what are you - I don't even -" Smokey was slinking away, and Manic shouted at him, still not free from Valerie's iron grasp. "Smokey! Smokey, help me!"

Already he found her sparkling eyes uncomfortable, wilting under her merry gaze. She was brushing her hands over his face now, examining his every feature. "...oh my gosh, your mouth is so cute!! And your eyes are so ...deep! And your skin - how did you get such smooth skin?" She was running her fingers through strands of his hair now. "Gray hair already? Did you dye it? It's so original! I love it! You're so cute!" He found himself trying to push Valerie away, but nothing seemed to deter her.

Linking arms with him forcefully, utterly ignoring the fact he was trying to escape, Valerie walked him down the hall. "You are so completely adorable, that I've decided you should take me to the party! We're going to have so much fun!" Manic was getting a migraine, when suddenly, he was free. He looked up, and Valerie stood there, smiling at him brightly. How could she look so innocent? He shuddered.

[starlight]

Ayumi watched Smokey with growing interest through her dark sunglasses. Smiling delivishly she bounded down the hallway, Makoto in tow, and nearly smacking into a door left ajar as she dashed. Skidding to a stop right in front of smokey she grinned with accomplishment as she had for the first time in a very long time, had not hit anything.

"Hey! You the guy that was talking to himself about bootleggin'?! [B]Do you know how bloody illegal that is?![/B] Er...." She stopped yelling as she saw the supposed "new couple" sweatdropped and nervously laughed. "w-well what d-do you know?" she said nervously, her currently teal-blue hair seemed to wave about as she spoke. Makoto, was getting dangerously close to Smokey, and all whom were present minus Manic, knew what might happen should he not move soon...

Ignoring her ancient dog, and getting serious for a brief moment. Ayumi faced Smokey again and blushed slightly. Her courage with talking to people again was gone with her sugar high.

"Annnnnnyway... um... yeah... Smokey... c-can I come to... y-your p-party?... P-pretty please?" She asked as she looked down sheepishly at the ground. Before Smokey could reply though someone spoke up from another hall.

"What is with all the yelling?!"

[Shinmaru]

"Mallow, you're...not a tadpole!" Dramatic music played, as if to emphasize this point. Mallow's face contorted into a look of extreme confusion.

"Say what?!" Mallow yelled. Shinmaru laughed uproariously as he watched his bootleg copy of an animated version of Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars. This was the third part of a, what else, seven part series that he had just recieved in the mail a few hours ago.

"Man, I didn't see that coming at all!" Shinmaru yelled with glee, despite the fact that he had played the original Super Nintendo game about fifty times in lieu of homework. "Ah, I love bootlegged copies of animated versions of video games."

"[b]Do you know how bloody illegal that is?![/b]" a voice yelled from outside. Shinmaru jumped into the air and hit his head on the roof of his apartment. He yelped with pain, then proceeded to stop the episode, eject the disc from his television and hide it. There was no way that he would be going to jail, if he had anything to do with it.

"Whew...that was a close one," Shinmaru said to himself. He continued to listen to what was going on outside and soon realized that the people outside were not talking about him. "Damn it, they made me stop watching my show and they weren't even talking about me!" He rushed outside angrily to confront the people who had taken the joys of his cartoons away from him.

"What is with all the yelling?!" Shinmaru yelled at the top of his lungs. "Don't you know that some people are trying to watch some stuff and that we need peace and quiet?!" Shinmaru calmed down when he spotted Manic sulking on the bottom of the stairs. "Heya Manic. What's up?"

"I'm trying to figure out how to get away from all of you nutjobs," Manic replied.

"That's a good one," Shinmaru laughed.

"You live in the apartment building, right?" Smokey asked Shinmaru. "Want to come to my party?"

"Party?" Shinmaru asked. "Hell yeah! Anything to avoid studying...you know, I have to take the SATs soon. That's gonna be a real pain and I could use a good party to get my mind off of them."

"Party?" another person spoke up from down the hall. "What party?"

[Avalon]

[color=deepviolet]Cela stood behind her door, trying to listen through the crack of her window. "...well, this is getting me nowhere."

She opened the door, poking her head out slightly, seeing a group of tenants standing down the hall. Listening closly, she heard the word "party" and got slightly curious.

"Party?" she questioned, stepping out of the door holding her handy-dandy Rulebook. "What party?"

"Oh, you must be the new Building Manager."

She laughed slightly, "You may call me 'Cela'," she replied, walking towards the tenants. "So, somebody's throwing a party, eh? Well, as long as I'm invited, you're permitted to have it, I guess. Besides, the more the merrier, right?" she sighed, covering herself up with her long white lab coat.

"Who's throwing a party?" another tenant spoke, poking his head out of the door.[/color]

[Onix]

"A party? Nice!" said Xion, walking out of his room. He then took a look at Cela. "Hell-[B]o[/B] gorgeous!" he then saw Valerie. "My, what lovely tennants we got, eh Manic?" he knudged Manic in the ribs. "I mean, first Ayumi, now these two, who's next?"
Ayumi, Smokey, and most of all Manic groaned at Xion's appearance. Having lived in Maison Otaku long enough to have a full conversation with him, had taken to dreading his appearences in the outside world. It was a bit of a mystery to what he was doing in his room most of the time, but from the insane cackling, they all assumed it was planning world domination and the murder of George Bush.
"So, what's your name, o' beautious one?" he said, quickly taking Cela's hand and kissing the back of it, in a rather gentlemanly fashion.
She snatched it back, looking a bit annoyed. "My name is Celestrial Duvet, and I'm the new building manager. I would prefer if you called me Cela. AND kept your hands to yourself."
"Right, right," said Xion, preparing to abuse sarcasm. "I was just trying to be a gentleman, but I can take a hint. *coughfeministpsychocough*."
"What was that, mister..."
"Megalomana. Xion Megalomana, your resident genius and self-assured smartass." He took a sweeping bow. "Always at your service, Ms. Duvet." He turned to the other tennants. "So, when's the party?"
"Party?" asked another from off-stage.

OOC: Hope you enjoyed meeting my character.

[sublime2004]

[size=1][b][color=darkgreen]
"Well, since you ALL decided to invite yourselves..." Smokey glanced around the now very crowded hallway, "I guess whoever wants to come can." He gave another glance to the ladies to make sure they were coming. And said in his head, while trying to ignore the imaginary disco ball and leprechauns "SWEET!!"

"You comin' too, Manic?" Smokey reitterated, "You look like you need a break."

"Yeah, I guess." he said in a sort of defeated tone, but Smokey knew he was kind of looking forward to it.


"Now everybody, the party is friday night at 8:00 p.m." he told the room, "Just come over when you hear the music. There'll be chips and pretzels and I'll pick up a keg."

There was a tone of general understanding. I mean, how hard are these directions? Smokey spoke again, "AND REMEMBER," everyone kind of flinched at the sudden increase of volume in his voice, "I don't advocate underaged drinking, I only facilitate it." there were a few giggles.

"AND WOULD YOU PLEASE STOP KICKING THE REINDEER!?!" stunned confusion filled the hall.[/b][/color][/size]

[Balinese]

[FONT=Comic Sans MS][COLOR=DarkSlateBlue]OOC: My first comedic RPG... let's have some fun![/COLOR]


"Where do you find reindeer at this time of year?" giggled a soft voice from behind Xion. Kat brushed back a few stray strands of hair and grinned as she watched Smokey get a look at her.

"Chicken Bone!"
"Flying Teapot, actually. Name's Kat. Need anything for the party besides chips and things? I make a mean chocolate mouse." She tried to twitch the kitty ears stuck into her braid and failed miserably, as usual. [i]"Ay, basura."[/i]

Smokey looked at her curiously, muttered "Mongolian pitchfork-wielding battle crickets," and walked back to his apartment.

Kat smiled innocently and looked at the rest of the tenants. "Manic? You goof, don't tell me you moved in here..." Manic's eyes widened a touch. "No. No no no. Kat, don't get any closer."

Too late. Kat grabbed Manic and squeezed him in a hug, then smirked. "We're going to have so much fun I just know it!" She turned away to head back to her apartment, then pirouetted quickly to smile at Manic. "See you tomorrow... and you know, that guy who's having the party is kinda cute. Prrrr!" She waltzed back to her apartment, sidestepping quickly to avoid a growling Makoto, and humming [i]Flying Teapot[/i] all the way.

[COLOR=DarkSlateBlue]OOC: This should get interesting...[/COLOR][/FONT]

[Boba Fett]

[color=green]Al opened his apartment door, to see what all the noise in the hallway was about, and someone fell through his doorway onto the thinly carpeted floor with a thud. It was Manic who, by the looks of it, had been leaning against Al?s apartment door before it?d been opened.

[b]Al[/b]: ?Oh. Sorry, Manic.?

[I]Manic rolled over on the floor before grabbing Al?s outstretched hand and pulling himself to his feet again.[/I]

[b]Manic[/b]: ?Thanks.?

[b]Al[/b]: ?So ya?ll, what?s this ruckus in the hallway??

[b]Manic[/b]: ?Nothing, just some pa-?

[I]Shinmaru walked up to Manic and put his arm around Manic?s shoulder, making Manic look suddenly very uncomfortable.[/I]

[b]Shinmaru[/b]: ?Manic was just about to ask you to to the party that Smokey?s having.?

[b]Al[/b]: ?A party? With food and drinks and stuff??

[b]Shinmaru[/b]: ?Yeah. Like that. We might even get a keg.?

[b]Al[/b]: ?Cool.?

[b]Manic[/b]: ?Yeah, so I have to go? away now. See you later.?

[I]Manic scowled at Shinmaru, who was oblivious to Manic?s displeasure, before hurrying down the hall.[/I]

Al took out a crumpled list from his pocket, and followed Manic to the elevator. It was time for him to go shopping?[/color]

[Avalon]

[color=deepviolet]Cela sighed, "Well, as much as I would like to stay, I have some things to take care of."

Smiling slightly, she looked at the group, "It was nice meeting..." she narrowed her eyes at Xion. "[i]Some[/i] of you."

"Nice meeting you also, Ms. Duvet. Oh excuse me, I meant 'Cela'." Xion spoke, earning him a scoff from her.

Cela smirked slightly, "Just remember--I got my eye on all of you." and with that, she turned and left.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Opening the door to her 'house', she sighed. "Remember...death by strangulation is not something a B.M. is supposed to wish. Especially not upon the tenants--"

[i]Why did you even take the job?[/i] Her conscious spoke, interupting her ranting.

"Cause I need the money, that's why!" she yelled, throwing her white lab coat against the wall.

[i]Don't yell at me! I'm not the one who took this job, you did![/i]

"I know that! Je suis terrible!" Cela yelled again, walking to her bedroom.

[i]Oh ho! Now you wanna get back to your roots, eh?[/i]

Cela growled slightly, shaking her head until she heard no more from her conscious. "Now, that's a lot better. So, lets go do a little grocery shopping." she ran into her closet, changed into a white shirt, white skirt, and white heels to match. She brushed her hair slightly with one hand and placed on a pair of shades with another.

Looking herself in the mirror, she smirked. "How cute." and with that, she grabbed her purse and left out of the door.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

OOC. Hope that was good...and just for the imagination, this is what she wore...[/color]

[sublime2004]

[b][size=1]OOC: DAMN! she's hot... for a cartoon... (God i'm so lonely)
[color=darkgreen]IC:
"THUMP-A-PUMP DA-DUMP A-PUMP!!!" the music coursed through the building. It was so loud, Smokey could feel his heart skipping in his chest. Then he could see it skipping across the floor....break dancing.

Anyway, people started to show up in packs of two's and three's. Pretty soon, his apartment was full of people he didn't really even know. Most of them he didn't even recognize. He had a strong suspicion that someone let the word out that there was a party. Smokey was only expecting residents of the Maison to attend.

"Guess it's a good thing I got three kegs." Smokey told himself aloud. He was a bit disappointed, though. The third one was for personal use only.

"I guess you're right." said someone to his right...
[/b][/size][/color]

[starlight]

"Come on!" Ayumi was almost begging

"No way! We hear your music enough as is!" [I]came the annoyed reply of the "DJ." [/I]

[I]Ayumi continued to bug the person currently in charge of the music to put on a few of her CD's. While Makoto took this opportunity to pour--yes thats right, pour himself a drink and pushed it to a safe corner, using his nose to move it.

Ayumi eventually had given up with the music selection. Obviously the person guarding the CD player had [B]NO [/B] taste of music, and decided to bug the newcomers as they entered. Seeing as she had nothing better to be doing; this party was just starting! ... and yet Makoto was already getting tipsy, his big bulky sheepdog body swaying side to side.[/I]

"Whoa! What's with the dog?!" [I]Came a voice from nearby.[/I]

[Shinmaru]

"I mean, seriously," Shinmaru said. "Even [i]dogs[/i] aren't supposed to get drunk [i]that[/i] quickly!" He took a long chug from his beer and tossed the can aside. Shinmaru never really did anything at parties other than drink and belch a lot. However, this was far superior to studying, at least in his point of view. Shinmaru turned over to Smokey, who was standing next to him.

"Hey, where's Manic?" Shinmaru asked.

"I don't know!" Smokey yelled over the booming noise of the music. "I haven't seen him at all yet!"

Shinmaru grunted in frustration. The party just wouldn't be the same if he couldn't bug Manic the entire time. After all, besides watching bootleg animated versions of video games, that was all Shinmaru did all day.

"Well, I'm going to go find him!" Shinmaru yelled over the cacophonous noise. He turned to walk away and find Manic, when he bumped into another person.

"You're not going to go off without [i]me[/i]!" the person said, jabbing a finger into Shinmaru's face.

[Avalon]

[color=deepviolet]Cela rushed off of the elevator, holding a bag full of boxes of fried chicken in one hand and a 6-pak of Bacardi O3 in the other. Looking at herself in the mirror, she smiled...and kicked open the door to Smokey's apartment, hitting a few people.

"Here, I brought some chicken." she spoke, throwing the bag to Smokey. Cela sighed, finding a nice spot on the wall and began drinking the first Bacardi bottle. She raised an eyebrow, watching the other people at the party dance and almost choked on her drink.

[i]Teenagers...[/i]

She felt someone tap her on the shoulder. "Go away."

"Don'tcha wanna dance, sweet thang?" a random boy asked.

"[i]Sweet thang[/i] Look, just go away...you're irritating."

"Aw, come on. Just one dance, that's all."

Cela sighed, "Then you'll go away." she watched him nod and rolled her eyes. "Alright, alright...there's no harm in dancing." placing her bottle down, she sighed deeply. "After you." and with that, she was dragged to the center of the room and began dancing.[/color]

[Balinese]

[FONT=Comic Sans MS]"You're NOT going to go off without [i]me![/i]" Kat tapped Shinmaru's nose lightly. "I need to get outta here... that dog smell is SO gross." She grabbed Shinmaru's left arm and dragged him out the door, pausing for a second to hiss at Makoto. "Dogs. Can't live with 'em, can't shoot 'em without getting slapped with a lawsuit."

"So, what do you do?"
Shinmaru shrugged. "I work at the Burger Boy down the street, and bug Manic."
"Sounds like fun. Why bug Manic?"
"He studies too much. All those books would give me a brain-ache."
"You ever seen his grades? That boy had better study, or he'll never get into college." Kat preened for a second, passing a hand over her face in a mimicry of washing it. "Maybe we shouldn't go get him... he needs to study for the SATs." She leveled a look at Shinmaru, who smiled sheepishly. "You ought to study too, hon."
"Maybe you're right..."

"DON'T TOUCH THE UNICORNS!" blasted from Smokey's apartment, followed by a moment of party-silence. "I'LL GET YOU, CHEESE LOG!"

"On second thought, maybe we'd better go get him... Smokey'll calm down when he sees Manic, right?"
"Right." The pair hurried to find Manic ASAP.[/FONT]

[sublime2004]

[b][size=1]OOC: Haha, nice touch.
[color=darkgreen]IC:
Smokey was making his rounds all over tghe party, introducing himself, getting to know everybody. He grabbed a chicken leg and went over to the keg to see if he needed to bust out the full one.

"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?" smokey shouted at a group of people getting their drinks.

"Who the f(ork) are you?" ask the pack leader defiantly.

"This is my house."

"Oh, really? Sweet party, man."

"Great, now get the f(lip) out." Smokey demanded.

"Hey man, the dude who told me about this party told me you were cool." The leader tried to fill another plastic cup, but Smokey slapped it away.

"Yeah, I'm cool with 18, 19, 20 year olds." he explained, "What are you, 15? 16?"

"Yeah, so?"

"So, get out! I'm not gettin' arrested just because some little sh(ot)s went home to mommy and daddy drunk." Smokey cleared the party of the underage riff-raff, along with many inaudible comments which sounded curiously like a(sk)hole."AND DON'T TOUCH THE UNICORNS! i'LL GET YOU, CHEESE LOG!" The room was a lot less crowded and it was a lot easier to move around. And the conversation went a little beyond 'Math homework sucks.' and 'Who do you think will take me to prom?'

"Who the hell do these kids think they are?" Smokey asked no one in particular.

"No kidding." said someone behind him...[/color][/b][/size]

[Cyriel]

Smokey turned to see Valerie behind him, smiling with a slightly amused expression on her face. She continued, "I mean, really, all these kids..."

His eyes narrowed, "And how old are [I]you[/I]?

She smiled, her expression cheerful now, and her eyes roved around the room. "I barely turned 16." She continued in a hurry when she saw the look on his ballooning face, "Relax, Smokey. I don't drink. It's detestable. Besides, you do know that before the night is up, your carpet will probably be a different color, right?" A quiet laugh escaped her, and she took a small sip from the contents of the cup she was holding.

Smokey's eyes widened, and he grabbed the cup. "I thought you said you didn't drink!!!"

She looked at him oddly, "I don't.. Wait a second...do you mean that that's beer? Wow, I've never had it before. It tastes ok I guess." Seeing that he was about to throw her out as well, Valerie quickly dashed away, losing herself amongst the crowd. She found herself under one of the tables, avoiding everyone's feet, and scanned the crowd for Manic. "Where is that adorable little kid anyway?"

[Manic Webb]

Little did they all realize Manic had grabbed all of his books, and started running toward the library. Surely he'd be able to study there.

"Bunch of crazy, out of control, lazy direction-lacked mofos!" Manic shouted while walking the street. "They'll all see. I'll get some work done tonight, tackle my SATs when they come, and I'll be the only person in that entire apartment with a future! I'll show them! I'll show them all! Nothing can stop me, now! Noth--" Manic paused just before passing by a candy store. His mouth began to water as he imagined the soft, squishy feeling of gummi bears in his mouth. He could almost taste the artificial fruit flavor.

"Mmm, gummis. Awwwauauaua..."

A puff of smoke remained where Manic once stood. He was in the candy store, riving in gummi goodness. However, one of his books was very old and had been falling apart at the seems. Thus a trail of trigonometry provided a path to Manic's whereabouts.

[Shinmaru]

Kat and Shinmaru stepped away from the bludgeoning noise of the party and out into the street. The neighborhood was already dark and the lamps lit up the street. Shinmaru and Kat each looked from left to right in an effort to spot Manic.

"I don't see him," Shinmaru remarked. "Do you?"

"No, I don't see him, either..." Kat said. "Wait a minute!" She looked down onto the ground and picked up a piece of paper. "What kind of symbols are these?" Kat asked, perplexed.

"I have no idea," Shinmaru said. "Looks like some kind of foreign language to me." Kat looked into the upper right-hand corner of the paper, which read "Chapter Five: Trigonometry".

"A Trigonometry book?" Kat said to herself. "This must be Manic's!"

"What the hell is Trigonometry?" Shinmaru asked. Even though he was intelligent, Shinmaru didn't know a thing about math.

"Trigonometry is math," Kat replied. "But that doesn't matter right now! We have to get Manic!" She pointed off about twenty-five feet ahead of them. "Look, there's another paper!" Kat ran over to the paper and picked it up. It was a Trigonometry page, just as she thought it would be.

"What does this all mean?" Shinmaru asked. "Is it some kind of trail?"

"Yeah, I think it is," Kat replied. "Whether intended or not, we have a trail to follow Manic!" Kat and Shinmaru sped off and followed the rest of the trail towards Manic.

[Balinese]

"Shin, do me a favor next time we go searching for Manic?"
"What's that?"
"Don't let me go." Kat wrinkled her nose. "It's such a pain to follow this torn-up Trig book... hopefully... ah! Smell that?"
"Huh?" Shinmaru rubbed at his nose.
"Manic's one weakness." Without bothering to explain, Kat tugged Shin to the door of a small candy-shop and peeked inside.

"Mmm, gummis. Awwwauauaua..."

"The boy is standing there eating gummi bears?"
"And here I thought his weakness was gummi worms." Shinmaru walked inside, picked up the drooling Manic, and slung him over his shoulder. "Aw, nuts, he's drooling all over me!"
"That's what you get. C'mon, let's go calm down Smokey." The three left, a bit more slowly than they had arrived.

[Manic Webb]

"Put me down," Manic screamed. "Put me [i]down![/i] Put [i]me[/i] down! [i]Put[/i] me down!"
"No," Shinmaru replied.
"We need you to calm down smokey." Kat simply smiled and walked along side Shin.
"Do I look like his dealer to you?!" Manic thought about that question... "Forget I asked that. I'm [i]not[/i] his dealer!"
"I'm still not putting you down." Shin maintained his grip.
"Oh, how I hate you all..." Manic gave up and let his body go limp as he began to cry softly.
"Well, we all [i]love[/i] you!"

Thus they had found and retieved Manic. However, none of them were aware of the disaster that had struck Maison Otaku while they were gone...

[Shinmaru]

Shinmaru continued walking forward, Manic slung over his left shoulder. Manic's tears were dripping softly onto Shinmaru's shirt, but Shinmaru paid no notice to this. His attention was focused onto the stream of smoke that was flowing out from Maison Otaku.

"...that's not good, is it?" Shinmaru asked Kat.

"No, I'd say it's not good at all," Kat replied, running furiously to the entrance of Maison Otaku. She opened the door and stormed inside, Shinmaru falling in line behind her. They both ran frenetically up to Smokey's apartment and threw open the door.

"Oh dear lord..." Shinmaru muttered, staring at the chaos inside. The apartment was an absolute mess. Food was strewn in piles along the floor. There were small fires in just about every corner of every room in the apartment. Of course, the copious amounts of frightened teenagers scurrying about to and fro were not making matters any better.

"What the hell happened here?!" Kat shrieked. The sheer volume of her voice surprised Shinmaru and he dropped Manic onto the floor. Manic decided to take advantage of the situation and tried to scamper away. Kat turned around and stared at Manic with fire in her eyes. "Don't you dare go anywhere, Manic! You're staying, too!"

Manic nodded quickly and crawled over to where Shinmaru was. He promptly began whimpering like an old dog, while Shinmaru twitched uncontrollably, due to the fact that he was still frightened of Kat's loud voice.

[Balinese]

[FONT=Comic Sans MS]Kat rubbed at the space between her eyes, and looked at Shinmaru with a pleading expression. Everyone except Valerie and Smokey was running around with panic in their voices and eyes. Shinmaru set Manic down, quickly tying his shoelaces together in a double knot, and took charge.

"Everyone, head outside til we get this straightened out. Smokey, what happened here?"
"The Underwear Gnomes. I had to stop them..."
Shinmaru rubbed his temples, mumbling to himself, "Kill em with kindness, kill em with kindness..."
Kat and Manic overheard, and Manic's lips quirked up slightly. "I'd rather kill em with a buzzsaw."
"You're not helping."
Smokey pulled out a small table spoon and was staring wildly into the corners of the room.

A shriek came from the doorway of the apartment....[/FONT]

[Onix]

It was a girl, standing next to Xion.
"Daaaaamn," said Xion, surveying the scene from behind red-lense shades.
"Xi, what kind of party did you take me to!?" snarled the girl. She was a pretty blonde, but obviously not a dumb blonde.
"Uh..." Xion stammered.
The girl had fire in her eyes and Xion was obviously in a tight spot.
"Well?" she growled.
"Uh, Paige, babe, I didn't know, honestly! I just thought it was another party," he said, laughing weakly.
"Smokey, calm down!" yelled Shinmaru.
Paige's eye twitched. "There's a man at this party named SMOKEY!?"
Then Manic piped in. "He held it. He's a recovering drug addict."
Xion blanched and stared at Manic, shocked and betrayed.
"YOU BROUGHT ME TO A PARTY HELD BY A RECOVERING DRUG ADDICT NAMED SMOKEY!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?! ARE YOU F***ING INSANE!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!"
"Um, yes?"
Paige narrowed her hazel eyes, the deep brown blazing.
"One more chance, Xion," she hissed. "One more, and then we're through."
"B..but...Paige...baby...please...I...I..." Xion stammered.
"I'm leaving. And you owe me."
And with that, Paige turned and left.
Xion stood, stunned, for a while, until he whirled on Manic, eyes shooting blazing daggers.
"MANIC!!! IF SHE DUMPS ME I'LL F***ING KILL YOU YOU SON OF A *****!!!!!!"
Xion lunged for the foot-tied student until...

OOC: Just adding a new plot element, here.