HSR Open Mingle: The Virtual World

[magisteriamods]

ooc: Welcome to the Special Interactive EMP/ATP quest! One special quest/log will consist of the Interactive EMP/ATP, in which a canon or universe is honored with an open log mingle which can double as thread samples (log or network), EMP/ATP, or just for fun! We're starting with HSR, or Honkai Star Rail. Ya mod just slayed it with HSR last night.

Consider this a celebration of the game, which features a lot of cool characters, including not just one but two purple-haired ladies.

This log takes place in an HSR-themed simulation world within Magisteria. Any characters, including guest characters who attend, receive 🎰 five hundred virtual coins towards the casino, 💥 50 skill points for the arcades, and the shadiest goddamn teddy bear ever from the Magisteria vending machine. The claw of the Magisterian toy machine reaches only into hell, it would seem.

1. Any player with a character from the canon can introduce any scenario, but please tag for spoilers.
2. Feel free to mix/match Hoyoverse and Magisteria-verse in the Virtual World. It's a Virtual World!
3. Other players/characters can tag in, too. It's an open mingle. They will just enter the Hoyoverse-world simulation.
4. If this idea takes off, we'll do it with more canons soon! Everyone will get a turn eventually!

___
🎰 Casino(s) exist in Eden 6 and will be explicit on next TDM.
💥 HSR gave me the idea of Skill Points, even!

Comments

[thelifeofafaker]

Luck is with him this time! The gun fires, and a balloon is obliterated. Slightly excessively. Like, that’s a for real bullet that’s embedded in the wall now, not any kind of more innocuous pellet.

“Bang!” Sparkle applauds again. “Luck and skill are with you! Would you like to play some more, or choose a prize?” She grins, pink eyes almost glowing and the balloon on her choker knocking against the bell. “Different balloons get different prizes!”

[emet_sulk]

A soft, terse exhale this time when he lowers the pistol. Good grief. He hadn't been expecting an actual bullet. What if someone had gotten hurt?! He squints past the board where the balloons are to check that there are no bodies before turning his attention to the girl.

"What prizes are there?" Emet-Selch hadn't even thought to ask about prizes.

some of my friends who xiv made prize suggestions

[thelifeofafaker]

Sparkle uncovers a tray with a bright smile. "For that balloon, this size of stuffed animal!" In the tray are a collection of cheaply-made stuffed animals about the size of a spread hand. The selection of animals is bizarre, and includes a shoebill, an axolotl, a lemur, and what appears to be a tardigrade.

your friends have good taste

[emet_sulk]

Hah. Cute. Anyone else might have at least cracked a small smile but Emet-Selch remains outwardly impassive.

"Then what do I get if I continue to shoot?"

[thelifeofafaker]

"It depends what balloons you hit, of course!" She bounces on her toes, the balloons on her pigtail and choker bobbing. "Every kind of balloon has a different prize! And you get one for each balloon you pop, in six shots total, from as many different guns as you like!"

[emet_sulk]

Six shots and he's already had two. His gaze lingers speculatively on the balloons in her hair and at her throat before sliding away.

"I suppose there's no harm in seeing how many I hit then." Surely if he continues to use the guns with little or no magic about them, he'll be guaranteed to hit his targets?

Accordingly, he reaches for another gun. "I have four more shots, yes?"

[thelifeofafaker]

"Four more pulls of the trigger!" Sparkle confirms. She grins at him, tilting her head to the side. "I look forward to seeing which guns and which balloons you choose, venerable sharpshooter!"

[emet_sulk]

He nods and casts his gaze over the guns once more. It would be too obvious if he picked every single working gun, wouldn't it? So he elects to choose two more guns like the one he just shot, one with a middling amount of magic, and one that glows strongly with it like his first shot.

As for his targets...tempting as it is to aim at the ones in her hair, he plays it straight and simply shoots for the standard ones on the wall.

[thelifeofafaker]

Two balloons destroyed, one burst of confetti, and one gun that pops out a little flag that says BANG! on it.

Sparkle sighs dramatically. "How very conventional of you." But she uncovers another tray of stuffed animals anyway, of the same level of quality, this one including a ferret, a bee, a shark, a blue rabbit, a grey and white cat, and, inexplicably, a moogle. "Three prizes!"

[emet_sulk]

Where did the moogle even come from... He eyes her dubiously before selecting the shark, the shoebill, and - after a bit of deliberation - the grey-white cat.

"...I realise you do not owe me an answer, but are the balloons on your person perchance part of the game?"

[thelifeofafaker]

“Of course they are, silly! Every type of balloon earns a different prize. But you used up all your shots being boring. You have to pay if you want to play again.” She grins, tilting her head at him invitingly, so that the balloons on her pigtail and choker bob with the movement.

[emet_sulk]

Emet-Selch pulls a face.

"I shall pass. I've no desire to shoot a girl in the throat with a true bullet and I cannot fathom why you would encourage it in the first place. You do realise that you would die from that, yes?"

[thelifeofafaker]

Sparkle laughs. “Lighten up, venerable sharpshooter! You’re no fun at all. It’s only a game. You don’t know what’ll happen unless you try!”

[emet_sulk]

"I know what happened the last time I shot someone in the back and I'm not keen to recreate it." He shakes his head emphatically. "Unless you are somehow immortal or invulnerable, I shall content myself with these small things."

He's fairly certain Azem and Rhea'li will like two of the three things he has picked, which had been his primary goal.

[thelifeofafaker]

“You’ll never know unless you try!” He is clearly committed to not being fun, but she is committed to being annoying. “I could be immortal. Or invulnerable. Or any number of other things.”

[emet_sulk]

He heaves a deep, bone-tired sigh. The last time he had shot someone, that ultimately hadn't ended well for him. And this time he doesn't even have anything to gain from it!

Casting a glance over the remaining pistols, he ponders. Rhea'li (and Azem) would most certainly disapprove of him lethally shooting a random girl even if she did invite it.

...Well, surely he can just shoot at an arm or something, right? He'll heal her afterwards (although his meagre magicks right now probably won't fix her entirely).

With great reluctance, he picks up a gun which he knows now to likely contain a bullet. It only takes a glance for him to raise, aim, and shoot her upper arm - and to do it in such a way as to minimise trauma to the area.

[thelifeofafaker]

Well, he definitely doesn't have anything to gain from it if he's not even going to shoot a balloon!

Sparkle staggers back a little with genuine surprise on her face, then bursts into laughter. Her arm hangs limp at her side, pouring blood. "No prizes for that, sharpshooter, that isn't a balloon and you didn't pay to play again!" She shakes her head and clucks her tongue, completely ignoring her arm. "That's seven shots. What am I going to do with you?" Is that laughter at the edge of hearing, a different laugh than hers? She steps forward, eyes glowing. "You have to pay if you want to play again, venerable. And you stole from my humble little game, took a shot you weren't allowed. Do you have anything interesting to offer, or shall we decide what you'll pay?" The blood dripping onto the ground has started to smoke. The laughter is getting louder and harder to deny.

[emet_sulk]

Oh. Right. He hadn't even thought about payment before picking up the pistol, occupied with those tedious thoughts of morality and such. She's hardly the most menacing thing he's faced in his long life but that doesn't mean he's going to ignore an obvious warning sign.

Clearing his throat awkwardly, he brings out his device.

"You're right. I apologise. I'll pay for--" He frowns and mutters, "I suppose I must pay for two rounds... Two rounds, aye?"

He glances at her bleeding (smoking) arm. "I can heal your arm if you'll allow me."

[thelifeofafaker]

She laughs, and it echoes with the laughter coming from all around. "I hope that isn't your payment offer, venerable! That's not interesting enough at all. Can you think of something interesting, or must we start making suggestions?" She's still ignoring the wound in her arm. The shade of red of the blood looks wrong. "Your first six shots were free. If you want to play again, you pay. And clearly you wanted to play again!"

[emet_sulk]

Is this girl even human? He frowns at her still-bleeding arm then cautiously puts away his device.

"I cannot negotiate without knowing what you consider adequate compensation. You are the maligned party so you may make the first offer."

[thelifeofafaker]

She cocks her head to the side, smiling, too wide and poison-sweet. "Tell me a secret, venerable. And make it a juicy one."

[emet_sulk]

He frowns more deeply. He has an abundance of secrets, but...

"Are you going to keep it to yourself after I tell you?"

[thelifeofafaker]

"Mm. Probably. It's always interesting to know something no one else does." She's still smiling, the puddle of blood on the floor still smoking. "Just between us and the Laughter, venerable." And it's always fun to know where the buttons are. She's behind, in this world, without all her research.

[emet_sulk]

"You can have a decent secret if you swear to keep it one, or you can settle for something mediocre and flaunt it to shame me."

He crosses his arms, staring at her flatly. Your choice, girl.

[thelifeofafaker]

"Between you, me, and the Laughter, venerable. Swear on my mask." She smiles up at him, bright and winning.