CYOA Chapter 2: The world is now a Noir crime thriller.

Ok, so first, to get everyone up to speed, here's a little recap on the characters, as of the last chapter, and the story so far:

Synopsis:
Everything changed one morning, and the world began to grow more and more like a JRPG, complete with a variety of genre tropes. Upon discovering the secret of a magic mirror in your bathroom, an agent of the world on the other side brought you through.

You:
You're not sure who you used to be, but the last time you saw yourself, you were a 5'7" young man with spikey red hair and eyes, average to light weight. You used to work at an office building before a magical mishap burned it down with your fire magic that you've consequently learned tends to be more trouble than it's worth. Then you merged minds with notorious bad guy Texnos, making the two one and the same. Despite slight kleptomaniac tendencies, a greed for treasure and a general disdain for, well, everyone and everything, you did have a soft spot for Maggie. Who wouldn't?

Maggie:
The love of your life--at least, your PREVIOUS life--Maggie was an extremely intelligent and attractive woman and your party's best offensive mage, sporting devastating electric attacks. Normally the one to find the most rational solution, she was an indispensable asset to your team. She began the story as your immediate supervisor, but decided to stick with you after the company burned to the ground.

Bud:
You hate this guy. He was the big boss at your former workplace before you (accidentally!) burned it down trying to fight him over TPS reports. Ugly and overweight, he had as much a beef with you as you did with him. You tended to ruin his life every time you used your fire magic. But it was his fault for being weak to fire.

Jobert Robert:
You hate this guy. Also known as Jo-Ro, he received a Magic Charm Thingy by chance that made everything he did instantly successful, but naturally it only worked if he properly anticipated what he needed to do. He had so little imagination that all he did with it was make bets. He was naturally a pretty difficult for to defeat, until Archaeus recovered it from him. Anyway, he was the leader of the plot to destroy the world last time, until the world decided to destroy itself.

Christina:
A pizzeria cashier that abandoned her shift to accompany you and your friends, probably because you were the only interesting thing she had seen in weeks. She liked black and rarely spoke. You learned from your merger with Texnos that she was an escaped splinter of Texnos' mind, but only you and she knew. And maybe Archaeus?

Archaeus:
You hate this guy. Also know as Archaeus the Wise--though you not convinced it was accurate--this guy was supposed to be a wizard, but never did any magic. He never did much of anything, really, except speak in riddles, know more than he let on, and owe lots of people money.

Texnos:
Your other half. Once a wealthy noble who became trapped in his own mind, he escaped into your body along with the other you, leaving you incalculably wealthy.

Bruto:
Who's a good boy? Bruto, that's who! Some kind of enormous monster thing, he had a fierce appetite but was nothing if not loyal.

As before, multiple selections (eg, A and B) may be, at my discretion, counted as either a vote toward A and B, or a vote toward A and a vote toward B, or a vote toward all three, depending on how well I think the combo works.

Now, without further ado, let's begin chapter 2:

If there was one thing you could fix about the week, you'd just take Monday out of it completely. You'd just have six days: Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday. You don't even care if you gotta work Saturdays. You usually end up working anyway, when you got somethin' to do. An' Sundays too. So really it ain't got a thing to do with the workweek.

You hear the bell ring. You ain't got a look up to know who it is. It's Monday. An' like every Monday, the bossman is here to give you a whole lotta lip.

You do decide to at least uncross your ankles and get them offa the desk and onto the floor, so you can at least pretend you care if the bossman notices you slackin' off. But you keep your nose buried in the newspaper. You don't care that much.

"I see you're getting a lot of work done," he says, sarcastically.

"Yeah yeah," you answer. "Ain't no work to do."

"Oh, is that right?" he answers.

"Yeah, that's right," you fire back. "I'll have you know, I'm lookin' at the want ads as we speak. Maybe I'll find a lead in 'ere."

"Funny thing," he says, sitting down on the edge of your desk. "I don't remember the want ads being in the middle of the funnies. "

"Regular comedian," you say scoffin'. "You know dey put different pages in dese papers. You're just seeing the one at the back, which I am definitely not reading, unless you think I got X-ray vision."

It was true. You always took a page of the funnies and put it on the back so you could deflect in exactly this way. The bossman never fell for it, but it made you feel better.

Despite knowin' what you were up to, he lets it go.

"Now listen here," he says. "We are not a charity, much as we would like to be. It's up to you to find work to do, or you'll be outta here by Wednesday."

"Ok, Bud," you say, still not looking up from the sports section, "You're da bossman."

Bud gets up to leave, knowin' that you weren't takin' him seriously. As he approaches the door, you ask "see ya next week?"

Bud scoffs, but says nothin' and just leaves. It's how these things always go with dis guy. But he's got a point. You do gotta find work.

A) Flip to da want ads for real.
B) Hit da streets.
C) Dial up some colleagues.
D) Take a nap.

C

C)

C

C

Seems a foregone conclusion, but I'll still vote B.

D. I am tired.

ReturnOfDevsman posted...

C) Dial up some colleagues.

You pick up the telephone receiver. You insert a finger into the dial and rotate it until your finger stops, then release. You repeat for the remaining six digits and wait.

One ring. Two rings. Three rings. Four rings. Five rings. Six... Seven... Eight... Nine...

Finally, someone answers the phone.

" What? " comes the voice on the other end.

"What do you mean 'what'," you ask. "Is that how you answer da phone?"

"Maybe YOU should learn to hang up after five rings," the recipient snaps back. Someone's touchy. You haven't even said who's callin' yet.

"Look," you say. "It's Monday and I got nothin'."

"Oh," the voice is audibly disappointed.

Cheryl's always like dis. Not angry, necessarily, but disappointed once she figures out who you are. She works for a colleague of yours with whom you have an arrangement. If you're up at your ears in cases, you refer to him, and vice-versa. You scratch my back, I scratch yours. But Cheryl's somehow of da opinion dat you only call when you ain't got nothin' ta do.

Well, that's why yer callin' right now, but dat ain't got nothin' to do with nothin'.

"Listen, ya bum," she begins. "The boss doesn't have anything to give to you."

You don't believe her. You attempt a different angle.

"Is that right?" you ask. "Well, I suppose dat's dat. How ya feelin' today?" Maybe if you can get her talkin', she'll spill somethin'.

"I'm not feeling like talking to a bum on the phone," she says curtly. "Not with this--" she stops short. You smile to yourself. It never fails.

"This what?" you ask, leaning back in your chair and kicking your feet up once again.

"This nothing ," she answers curtly. "Have a nice day. Or don't. I don't care." She hangs up.

Jeez Louise, Cheryl, you think to yourself. So, there might be a lead there. But you don't imagine you're going to get any further on the phone.

A) Drop by Cheryl's workplace and pretend you're concerned.
B) You tried. Take that nap.
C) Look out the window.
D) Go bother Bud.

D, ruining Bud's day is a tradition by now.

A

C.

This bothering to be a choice implies there's something interesting/important happening there right this moment.

...Right?

C

Distant_Rainbow posted...

C.

This bothering to be a choice implies there's something interesting/important happening there right this moment.

...Right?

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/f/f4d37321.jpg

A

Tie. I flipped a coin.

ReturnOfDevsman posted...

C) Look out the window.

You set the receiver back on top of the phone, and turn yourself around in your chair.

You stand up, stretchin' your arms out sideways and lockin' your knees to stretch your legs too. You hold this position for several seconds before dropping back to a relaxed position. Looking away from your desk, you now lookin' straight outta da window. The blinds are tilted part a da way closed, so you lean forward a bit to see what's goin' on down below.

Normal scene. Normal Monday. You see da newspaper kid tryin' to make a buck, while people're walkin' everywhere tryin' to ignore da little guy. A car begins to pass by, and people gotta move off the street so it can pass. There's the bench for folks waitin' on da bus, with a couple of gals sittin' engaged in conversation.

After you look for a few seconds, something does catch your eye. A man dressed in a black (well, dark anyway) hat and coat is looking around nervously, with his collar turned up.

Well now, you say to yourself. What is this guy up to?

You watch a few seconds. He opens his coat an inch or two, briefly, and looks inside. He's checkin' on something, but you can't tell what. Now, you know better den to jump to conclusions, but you got a nose for dese things and think it might be a good idea to keep on eye on this fella. You don't got nothing else to do anyway.

Then it happens. You knew you were right. The guy slips past the two ladies on the bench, in one smooth motion nagging the handle of a purse and putting it in his coat, while he keeps on walking.

You're surprised he wasn't noticed trying to pull such an amateur move, but hey. You got some work to do.

A) Go on a wild chase through the city.
B) Try to get the ladies to hire you to retrieve it.
C) Go tell Bud.
D) Call Cheryl back and gloat.

Kircheis posted...

D, ruining Bud's day is a tradition by now.

Lol, if CE chose that one, I was going to have you bring him coffee and he burns his tongue on it. Keeping with the burning gag, just toned down, lol.

A

B, noir detectives don't for free yanno.

ReturnOfDevsman posted...

Lol, if CE chose that one, I was going to have you bring him coffee and he burns his tongue on it. Keeping with the burning gag, just toned down, lol.

You have failed and disappointed me today CE.

A

ReturnOfDevsman posted...

A) Go on a wild chase through the city.

Any delay and da filthy larcener will get away. So, off you go. You take to da stairs and are on da ground floor in a flash.

You look in the direction he was movin' and catch a glimpse of da hat and coat, turning a corner onto a different street. He was quick, but not quite quick enough.

You blast off at full tilt, in hot pursuit, surprising everyone around you, including da unwitting victim herself. Everyone hollers, an' makes such a racket you suppose your perp is definitely getting flighty.

You round da corner and, sure enough, your mystery man is boltin'. The jig is up, you figure, so you holler at him to stop.

Upon hearing your voice, he glances over his shoulder and for a brief moment you make eye contact. You don't get a clear look at his mug over that popped collar, but his eyes are keen and hardened. Dis guy's seen some struggles. Well, so have you.

The determined crook decides to knock over some trash cans to get in your way before turning a corner to the right.

A) Giant leap over the cans.
B) Ask a passerby to pick up the litter.
C) Make an earlier right turn and cut him off.
D) Pick up something from the trash to throw at him.

B, because I am hellbent on giving this man skewed priorities.

D)

A

Kircheis posted...

B, because I am hellbent on giving this man skewed priorities.

You know what, fine.

I pick B too.

D

D

ReturnOfDevsman posted...

D) Pick up something from the trash to throw at him.

This guy thinks he's smart. You're gonna prove he ain't.

Your eyes land squarely on a beer bottle. You cannot believe your luck. With a relatively quick motion (you only lose a little speed), you manage to grab da bottle as you pass. Now armed with a projectile, you round da corner just in time to see your adversary turning down an alleyway. He was almost fast enough to lose you.

You continue, full speed, and round da same corner your larcener friend did. You can't see him anymore, but once he reaches da street, he can only go left or right, so you continue in pursuit. When you reach da end, you look both ways, and seeing the perpetrator fleeing to da right, you take off in pursuit.

You're quickly running outta steam, so you decide now's your last chance, and you hurl your bottle with all your might. To your amazement, you hit the guy right in the back of the head (or neck?) and down he tumbles.

When you finally catch up, you keel over onto your knees to catch your breath for a second before reaching down, grabbing the guy's shoulder to turn him over and--

WHACK.

Now da back of YOUR head hurts. A lot. Things start goin' black an' you realize what happened.

He had an accomplice.

You fight for consciousness. You know dat if you lose it, you're toast. You pull yourself up onto your hands, and hear trew your dulled senses da perp and his buddy escaping. You try to say somethin', but your mouth won't work.

You win the struggle, but you're too late. By the time you come to, the two of dem are long gone. You touch da back of your head. Blood.

A) Go back to da office.
B) Go to a hospital.
C) Let da victim know she's been robbed. And try to get her to hire you.
D) Call da cops.

C)

C

B

ReturnOfDevsman posted...

C) Let da victim know she's been robbed. And try to get her to hire you.

You slowly pick yourself up off the ground, and look around. Now how is it, you ask yourself, dat the whole street managed to be empty just when all these things went down? Of all the crummy luck.

You head back over, with great difficulty, to where the victim got her purse snatched. The commotion is just now dying down, seeing as you only left the area a minute or two ago. And in the confusion, it seems your victim has only just now begun to take inventory. You know what she ain't gonna find, so you approach her to explain.

"You're not going to find your bag," you say.

The lady looks up at you, with big dark eyes. She's still a kid. Not a day over 20, by your estimate. Dressed from head to toe in solid black, but not quite appropriate for a funeral.

You feel, oddly, like you've met her before. But that can't be, because you never forget a face.

The girl's companion answers for her. "You that man!" she says. "The one who just ran by!"

"My apologies if I upset you ladies," you reply. "I'd like ta think I had a good reason. I happened ta notice a shady fella liftin' your bag and thought I might chase da guy down."

The lady in black, despite being the victim here, seems more concerned with your injuries. You had hoped it wouldn't be super obvious with the grayscale color scheme. But evidently, it's hard ta hide blood.

As before, she remains silent and her friend speaks instead. "This is Christina," she says. "She doesn't speak much." You nod and introduce yourself, and after a little discussion about your job and their predicament, you talk them into accompanying you back to da office right across da street.

Back at your desk, on da second floor, you and Christina fill out an unethical amount of paperwork while her nameless friend pokes around more den you'd like. After she is done, and you have escorted them to the door, Christina turns to you, and says, softly, only two words: "Thank you."

"Rest assured, ma'am," you say as they leave, "I will not rest until we have found your belongings."

You then walk over to your desk, sit down, head still throbbing, and rest.

---

You wake up, you don't know how much later, to an awful burning scent. Is Bud up to something? You shake yourself awake and make your way out into da hall. It's worse out here. In fact, you can see some actual smoke coming out of his office door. What could he be doin'?

"Bud, what in heaven's name are you--" you ask, finally opening the door to find the whole room ablaze. Bud himself is covered in flames, and not moving.

A) Try to put out da fire.
B) Just get outta there.
C) Call the fire department.
D) Try to pull Bud to safety.

Lol, accidental early post. I was trying to click the bottom of the text window. Stay tuned...

Ok, good to go.

B)

C.

D.

Can't torment Bud if he's dead.

Also, make sure that Bud knows that you're saving him because annoying him is the spice of life for you.

Distant_Rainbow posted...

D.

Can't torment Bud if he's dead.

Also, make sure that Bud knows that you're saving him because annoying him is the spice of life for you.

Ah shit good point, change my vote to D.

C

A

Ha, I added this one as an afterthought, but actually this could be a lot more interesting than my other ideas.

ReturnOfDevsman posted...

D) Try to pull Bud to safety.

You ain't sure yet dat Bud hasn't already bought da farm, but as much as da bossman gets under your skin, you ain't gonna just leave 'im for dead. 'Sides, he signs your paycheck.

You look around quickly for something, some way to douse the flames eatin' the guy up or at least shield yourself so you can grab him. Your eyes land on a fancy rug he had imported months ago and still had rolled up in da corner. Lucky for you, it's da closest corner to ya, and also not in flames yet.

You seen a lotta places dat's already been burned in your career, but never been in a fire yourself. So you're not really sure how ta go about dis. You unroll da rug as fast as you can, an' throw it over the guy, hoping that does something.

You ain't never tried to trow a rug before. It flops a lot. But you hope it's smothering some flames, and in any case, you might can hold the rug.

You wrap the rug around his back and help Bud awkwardly to his feet, or rather his knees, because he ain't standing on his own. Da guy weighs a ton. He always was on da tubby side. In any case, you ain't got time for dis. You grab him by his wrists, leaving the rug behind (to your amazement, you actually do think you managed to extinguish da flames) and dragging him face down outta da room an' down da hall.

Da smoke here is still pretty thick, so even if you think you can outrun the flames at dis point, you try to book it.

When you get to da stairs, you wonder for a brief moment whether it'll hurt him more to go down on his belly, hitting his face on every step, or his back, hitting da back of his head on every step.

Well, getting walloped on da back of da head yourself hurt like hell, but you realize you ain't got time to turn him over just ta be petty. With a great shove, you push da bossman down da stairs and watch him slide all da way down. You're not sure you're helping at dis point.

You follow him down da stairs, and drag him out da front door. Relieved, you breathe all da fresh air your lungs can handle. Before ya know it, some bystanders have grabbed Bud and taken him off your hands.

You inform them there was nobody else in da building, far as you know, but o'course, your firm just rented two rooms in da whole building.

Just then, a fire truck and an ambulance arrive. You find yourself really wishin' dey had been here sooner.

A) Get in da ambulance and head for da hospital
B) Pretend you're ok so you can investigate da scene
C) Pretend you're ok but get in da ambulance with Bud so you can question him
D) Just do whatever da emergency responders want

A

A

C

ReturnOfDevsman posted...

A) Get in da ambulance and head for da hospital

You've had a doozie of a day today, what with both a head injury and some smoke inhalation, so you figure da best thing you probably need a trip to the hospital yourself. Everyone's scramblin' to get da fire out an' Bud in da ambulance, so you help yourself climb right up in da back.

As the paramedics are liftin' Bud in, you make some room. They notice you, but they can tell from looking at you that you belong there, so instead of shooin' you away, dey have someone sit with you can't ask a lotta questions. You don't know if they're supposed to let you get away with it, but you're sure you look like you've just had a rotten day.

Before you know it, you're at the hospital. Bud still ain't respondin'. They been doin', you know, whatever paramedics do to try to keep the sap from dyin', or bring him back, or whatever. So he gets out first and they come back with a wheelchair for you. You'd be insulted, but that would mean you'd have to move.

A ton of questions and examinations later, the doc comes to you and asks you da same questions again. Afterwards, he rubs his chin thoughtfully and asks you a third time about your unconsciousness.

"Yeah, doc," you say, irritated. "I sat down an' went to sleep. Is dat a crime?"

"It's just that it's rather unusual, considering your examinations," comes the doctor's reply. "I see evidence of cranial trauma consistent with your testimony, but no loss of consciousness as a result."

"Meaning, what," you ask. "I just got sleepy?"

"Maybe," the doc says. "Are you normally sleepy around that time of day?"

"No," you answer. It's true. The fact is, if you got work to do, you're runnin' around doin it, and it not, you're actually asleep that time of day.

"Well, as far as I can tell, all you need is a little treatment rest and some monitoring in case there's some delayed response."

"Great," you say dismissively. "Now what's da story with Bud?"

"The other gentleman who was taken from the building? We're working tirelessly to stabilize his condition. He's suffered a head injury as well, severe burns and much more severe smoke inhalation, as well as a number of bruises on the front of his body."

You know how he got the bruises. "So he's at least alive," you say.

"Yes," answers the doc. "But his condition is critical. He may not recover for some time, or he might not recover at all."

You think to yourself, if he's got a head injury, that probably means the culprit found him conscious. Bud's probably your best lead on catching the guy.

A) Stay in bed and recover.
B) Go to the office and investigate.
C) Go pick up the trail of the purse snatcher.
D) Call Cheryl.

D)

D

B

D

Eh... D I guess.

D

Don't purge

ReturnOfDevsman posted...

Don't purge