Text: This is a public service announcement

[lighter_flick]

[After he wakes up from that weird dream, it takes him a few more hours to realize that Eikichi is, somehow, missing. And...that was it! That was the straw that broke the proverbial camel's back! Because by mid-morning, there is an angry-looking text post from Tatsuya on the network, with only these words of warning.]

ATTN: HINOTO-RI

PHILEMON WILL RUIN YOUR LIFE

[That's....it. Maybe he should elaborate.]

Comments

[text]

[pastalishe]

He's benevolent, but he'll ruin our lives. [Sigh, possibly crazy people. Those sort of things are normally mutually exclusive.] Well, thank you for the... warning.

[Text][Anon]

[firstofthefallen]

How unfortunate that you confuse a symptom for the cause.

[acapriciousthing]

I take it you know something the rest of us don't?

[Text][Anon]

[handshakegreeting]

Indeed. But then, it would not be the first time any part of humanity had forgotten that it is they themselves that caused for consequence to fall down upon their own heads.

[Text][Anon]

[firstofthefallen]

So often it is they who bring it about. In the end, the only ones who can.

And the only ones who can persevere in the trials often set before them.

text

[not_that_scary]

[Forum lurking was by no means a new thing to Haseo. Because so many people were choosing to respond to Tatsuya-san's post in text, he had a large amount of debates to look through to build up his own argument.]

And?

[This is what it amounted to.]

[Text]

[beautifulmemory]

What has he done to yours?

[voice]

[ladieswhodresslikemen]

Sounds like your warning might be a bit late there.

[Wow, it took her forever to get this thing working.]

Video

[lighter_flick]

[...Okay. That saved a lot of explanation on his end.]

That's putting it lightly, but yeah.

Privacy filter->[text]

[lighter_flick]

I DON'T KNOW???

THEY'RE NOT HUMANOID THEY'RE MORE LIKE ROBOT ARMS THAT USE TOOLS AND STUFF.

...THAT'S PROBABLY A WEIRD THING FOR YOU TO HEAR ABOUT I'M SORRY.

WE'RE GETTING A LITTLE OFF TRACK HERE ANYWAY.

[text]

[lighter_flick]

ALRIGHT.

DO YOU THINK THERE'S A WAY TO FIND OUT WHERE THEY WENT IN THE FIRST PLACE?

[Video]

[lighter_flick]

[What is she talking about, Eikichi never mentioned anything about this!]

I don't...[Tatsuya sighs and shakes his head, looking at the screen again.]

Where are you? Can I...talk to you about it face to face? [Why is she acting like she doesn't remember, what happened?]

...That's okay, right?

[text]

[greatseal]

The Seven and the Three Wise Men might know something. When that group of them vanished the other day it was because the Trapezohedron called them to another world, so they're probably still researching it.

Besides that... if the Velvet Room opens up, we could ask Igor.

[text]

[lighter_flick]

[A what...?]

I NEVER HEARD OF THAT. IS THERE SOMETHING ABOUT IT ON THIS NETWORK?

ACTUALLY I CAN LOOK FOR IT RIGHT NOW BUT I'VE NEVER HEARD OF THE THING UNTIL GETTING HERE.

[text]

[lighter_flick]

[No YOU shut up.]

WHERE ARE YOU EVEN GOING WITH THIS? IS THERE A POINT TO JUST COMING IN AND SAYING "OH HE'S A DEMON I CAN SUMMON IT'S NO BIG DEAL"??

BECAUSE YOU ARE WRONG HE'S A VERY BIG DEAL OKAY.

voice

[lighter_flick]

[And, shockingly, that seems to be the case. Sure, there's probably some anger there, but he mostly just sounds...very tired]

Being sorry isn't going to change anything but...thanks.

[lighter_flick]

I DON'T KNOW. THE COLLECTIVE UNCONSCIOUS, MAYBE??

DON'T ACTUALLY BLOW THAT UP BECAUSE PEOPLE NEED THAT.

[text]

[lighter_flick]

LOOK I KNOW IT SOUNDS CONTRADICTORY OKAY?

PHILEMON IS BENEVOLENT AND MIGHT MEAN WELL BUT THINGS GO BADLY WHEN HE GETS INVOLVED IN THINGS ANYWAY.

I'M NOT SURE IF IT'S A THING HE CAN HELP BUT LET ME JUST SAY IT'S WORLD ENDING BAD.

[thewunderkind]

THE WHO IN THE WHAT NOW?! THE HECK IS A COLLECTIVE UNCONSCIOUSNESS, IS THAT WHERE THEY GO DUMP THE BODIES OR SOMETHING.

Text

[lighter_flick]

WELL OKAY I'LL TAKE YOUR WORD FOR IT.

I'M JUST SAYING BE PREPARED.

[Text]

[lighter_flick]

SURE, WHERE DO YOU WANT ME TO START?

[islandshore]

Aren't you getting a little ahead of yourself? We don't even know what happened.

[lighter_flick]

WELL I ~~~~~~~~INTEND~~~~~~~~~~~ TO PUNCH HIM AGAIN IF I SEE HIM NEXT.

THEN I INTEND TO FIND WHERE THE HELL EVERYONE WENT.

AND AFTER ALL THAT I ~*~*~*~~*~*~*~*~*~~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~INTEND~*~*~~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~~*~*~**~~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ TO GET MY HANDS ON NYARLATHOTEP TOO.

IS THAT A GOOD ITINERARY FOR YOU?

[Text]

[lighter_flick]

IS "PHILEMON AND NYARLATHOTEP: LIFE RUINERS" NOT CLEAR ENOUGH OR SOMETHING?

[lighter_flick]

DRAGGING CHILDREN INTO THEIR BETS SEEMS A PATTERN WITH THEM.

WHAT A SHOCK.