3rd Burn [Visual] (Backdated to mid-morning)

[nailed_it]

[Somebody looks incredibly pleased with herself. ...Okay, Yang usually looks pleased with herself, but somehow she looks even more so today.]

Hey Happy New Year, everybody!!

You all know what that means, right?

[...Only 358 more shopping days left until Hearth's Warming?]

That's right! You're looking at the soon-to-be newest, full-fledged Night Market guard.

[Princess Luna did say she'd be instated as a full guard at the turn of the new year. Apparently, Yang is hoping that was meant in the most literal sense. Either that or she just really wanted to remind everybody of the fact.]

I think that calls for a little celebration, eh? Who wants to join me for dinner and a few drinks at the Decanter tonight, hmm?

[She definitely means the non-alcoholic apple cider drinks there. ...Ruby, she'll bring a juice box of milk for you or something.]

Speaking of celebrations! I'll be attending that film festival in Canterlot next week. Anybody else coming with me?

[There's an actual pause as she squints at her feed, as if looking for her friends.]

Ruby? You'll go with me, right? Blake, I know you're coming.

[That's followed with a wink.]

Oh! Jaune! How 'bout you? Wanna bring your team along? I do owe you a fun time.

[She grins cheerfully.]

Come on! Who wants to start this year off with a Yang!?

[She's been sitting on that pun since yesterday.

...Good luck trying to talk her out of any of this, guys.]

Comments

[chatwithdeath]

A loan... and if I give it an interest rate... yes, that should work.

[Though, maybe it would be simpler to just take the loan.]

How have you been adapting?

[nailed_it]

Actually, this place is way more quiet than what I'm used to back home. Apart from the weird shape change everybody seems to go through when they're brought here and the whole shadowy, god-like entity that captured us, it's kinda...laid back?

[Her point of reference is admittedly kind of skewed.]

[chatwithdeath]

Well, that means I'll have time to work on getting home without interruption.

[It was a world similar, but human... and Pokemon.]

[nailed_it]

Good luck! If you happen to figure something out let me know. Everyone else here seems kind of...stumped.

[chatwithdeath]

There's still more information I need to find out, but I'll do what I can.

[nailed_it]

What kind of information? Maybe I can help you out.

[It's been awhile since she's used her "interrogation" skills. And there's always the chance she might hear something useful during a guard shift.]

[chatwithdeath]

Right now, it's just catching up on the general knowledge known among all the arrivals.

[Though, that sort of response... Naomi might be calling upon her in the future.]

[nailed_it]

Woah...that's a pretty broad subject. You've probably checked out the library already, right?

I bet one of the off-worlders who's been here awhile could give you a decent summary though.

[chatwithdeath]

I haven't. Where would I find the library?

I've been told some details, but why did this start is a question I don't really have an answer for.

[nailed_it]

It's at the edge of town, the side opposite of Town Hall. The library's a big hollowed out tree, so it's hard to miss. I think one of the younger princesses lives there or something.

[She then frowns and makes a move with her hoof as if she wants to fuss with her hair, until she remembers she's been walking on her hooves all day and puts it back down.]

You mean like, why some all-powerful being decided to kidnap people from other worlds and hold them prisoner here?

[chatwithdeath]

On the other side... Alright, I'll keep that in mind.

[She wonders which princess is supposedly living there.]

Exactly what I mean.

[nailed_it]

[Yang gives a half-hearted shrug.]

Nobody's really sure. The Pale Pony...Calice, she's on some sort of knowledge kick. She was a princess from another version of this world, Equestria, and I guess the power must've corrupted her or something went wrong. I don't think anyone knows for sure. But she absorbed her own world somehow as part of her quest to know everything and she's got her sights set on this one now too.

Pulling people from other worlds probably has to do with the whole desire for all knowledge thing. It's some big experiment of some kind.

[Her tone had been off-handed throughout most of that answer, but it drops to a low, strained timbre as she finishes.]

And we're the test subjects.

[chatwithdeath]

... When I spoke to the Luna you work for, we thought about the possibility of Calice being corrupted by something, and how it could be something I'm quite familiar with.

Still, being a test subject in her quest for knowledge, that isn't too far out there either at this point.

[nailed_it]

[She inclines her head a little, gaze slimming.]

What kind of "something" was that?

[chatwithdeath]

... Something I'll tell you when I visit the Night Market. Call me paranoid, but I'm always hesitant to speak of the finer details over open networks.

[nailed_it]

...Alright.

[She sounds extremely reluctant to let the subject drop, but she's not going to argue against that logic.]

My shifts there are kinda random.

[Mostly because she tends to cover any extra open shifts that she can just to have something to do and the extra bits don't hurt.]

You can just ask any of the guards there whether I'm on duty or not.

[chatwithdeath]

Very well... I assume the one I'll be looking for is... 'Yang'?

[Because that pun... she must love that aspect here.]

[nailed_it]

[Some semblance of her previously cheery mood returns at that.]

That's right. Yang Xiao Long.

[She's the only Yang here that she knows of but may as well be specific just in case.]

So who's going to be looking for me?

[Since she's pretty sure she hasn't gotten this pony's name yet.]

[chatwithdeath]

[Yang Xian Long... Dragon? Curious...]

Naomi Kimishima.

[She should work on introducing herself earlier.]

[nailed_it]

[Even more curiously, the pronunciation is a little off of what it might usually be, despite it being her own name.]

Nice to meet you, Naomi.

[Her smile quirks a little.]

And I'll be looking forward to meeting you in-person as well.

[Because she's definitely going to hold Naomi to that promise to explain what she meant.]

[chatwithdeath]

[It is... but she doesn't correct.]

You as well.

[It might be a while, but Naomi hums.]

Yes, I'll see you then.