Plot post for (late) July 11th

[theearth]

It's been quiet, hasn't it? That's about to change.

Everyone who signed up here will be getting a super-special PM from us soon- PLEASE CHECK YOUR MESSAGES ON THE ACCOUNT YOU REPLIED WITH.

PMs status: All sent. If you signed up and did not receive a PM, please check first doubly, then contact us.

Basically, the next week or two is not going to be directly outlined this time, given there's about fifteen different things that chosen characters will experience or run into over the next while; how things are handled from here depends on how the characters react.

Some of you may have special instructions about plotting, but for those of you who are free to share, you're welcome to discuss here. As a side note, we won't be ruthlessly hunting down anyone who accidentally spills the beans on something or whatever, but the "please" does stay in place.

General plotting is encouraged as well, and as always, please direct questions for the mods to the specified thread below and not the post in general.

Meanwhile, bear in mind that from the time this month's strange experiences start onwards, the Locke City police department will be on the active lookout for suspicious public behavior! (Feel free to have characters in law enforcement pick up on this fact, by the way!)

Comments

GENERAL QUESTIONS GO HERE!

[theearth]

Re: GENERAL QUESTIONS GO HERE!

[depolarized]

Hi! :) For Riku's event (Vermini swarm), how much control do we have over the Vermini? Fooor example, would it be alright to have them manifest inside an apartment so that when Riku gets home they all rush out? Alternatively, if Riku spotted them and tried to track them, would he be able to? And where would they lead him?

Annd can individual vermini stick around afterwards/get into things around the place until someone notices/swats them out? Can they be made to infect pets during this event and if so, is there a way to safely get them out of a pet? I know they were infecting dogs and other things before.

Unrelated, but what would happen if somebody tried to research the gemstones mentioned by the sage in the public library or the internet?

Thanks in advance! :>

[searchforpeace]

Excuse me for the bullet points here, makes existence easier.

+ Collective business. Now that I'm off hiatus, I'm planning for a meeting some weekend fairly soon. I'm planning to just make it an open log as a collective mingling of sorts. This is mostly to exchange information and get to know one another, though I'd like to bring up the topics of the invasion and the Gems if I could. The meeting is going to be at an arcade under the guise of a new game club forming and having their first meeting.

If you have a character that didn't respond to either of Audrey's posts, you're welcome to assume a friend/acquaintance spoke to them about it.
If you're keen to help set up the log or have a character that may want to talk to the group about something specific, let me know. If you have ideas for the collective or anything else you'd like to say, feel free to poke me here or PM for more privacy.

+ Thanks to the games thing, I'm having Audrey learn more about gaming in general. Sho and Bakura are going to be teaching her some but if you've got a gamer, I'd love to get some CR with them through this.

+ Audrey is going to be taking a semester off of college because of the invasion, gems and her own conflicted identity crises business. If you're a college classmate of hers, you're welcome to notice she's not around.

+ As always, more CR is love. Particularly female friends! And the ones she does have, I'd like Audrey to get closer to now that my summer filming shiznit is almost done. I want to get more active in general so I'm up for shenanigans. :3

[shiromadoushi]

Someone may have to haul Bakura away from the arcade machines to actually get anything done :D

[seriallylucky]

Hey, anyone want to get into a car crash?

No, wait, let me back up.

Those Vermini are still around, if I understand correctly, and therefore quite feasible for getting an Echo from. So I'd like to send Fred out to get one - anyone up for a shared action log? Ideally someone who was in the loop when they were a thing the first time, so Fred can find out the details.

Anyway. Unless something insanely tempting occurs to me beforehand, Fred's next Echo - whether from Vermini or something else - will be an Echo of Echo. Echo (the last one in the previous sentence) is a Djinni (helpful creatures a bit like wizardly familiars and a bit like summon spells) in his canon. Naturally, Echo won't be useful right away - he'll show up as an ordinary cat - but after enough Echoes he and his comrades will unlock quite a bit of power.

Now, as those of you who watch me on plurk may have inferred, I got a job recently, where I'm putting car-crash reports into a database. In a bit of bleedover, I'm wanting to RP a crash. Just a minor one, I promise. And it occurs to me that a delayed-onset creature Echo would be a good way to cause a crash.

So. Anyone up for getting run into, probably in a parking lot or a residential street or something like that? Or, as I asked above, for hunting some Vermini, either accidentally or deliberately, with Fred?

[healspec]

Ha ha oh man, I would like to offer up Ravi for the accident because I am a terrible person.

He is very attached to his expensive Corvette, you see.

[amberhearted]

So!! Log still in progress, but on Tuesday night/Wednesday morning (7/9-10), the reincarnate of Alex's wife got into a head-on collision and kind of died. Alex was the EMT to respond to it, sooooo he's been pretty out of sorts since then.

If'n that's something you'd like to do something with! I'm not sure anyone besides Arhu and Ravi would know, but I'm open! Otherwise he will be lying low unnnnntil he sees a swarm of Vermini around his apartment. Gross.

He'll post to the network about it after they disperse.

[argents]

... that is so sad.

[espigeonage]

Hmm, hmm! Anyone want to encounter vermies of the lowest level with Julien?

And after that... I'm torn, people, truly. Eyes or ears? Either is good enough to be as close to a superpower as he'll get, either will need a period of adjustment and he could use some help, whether or not he admits it.

[vanisland]

I think this could work. Now I just need to figure out a reason for Miranda to get out of the house for a bit.

After all, they're both computer people. This could work very well.

[doomedtheworld]

Soooo, I need to get this girl some CR going. She's got some but there's no such thing as too much CR and I'm open to anything from total dislike to friendship to long-lost family to whatever else. She's kind of tough to get close to but once you do, you'd better believe she has your back on anything that might come your way.

Nothing really specific here. Just an open CR call for anybody who wants to get to know the tough street kid thief trying to worm her way onto the straight and narrow.

[amberhearted]

Would you like to pursue the tool deal with Alex? Or maybe have them run into Home Depot, if there would be something to give either of them away?

I'm open to other ideas, too, those are just the first to come to mind.

[hollowleg]

Still waiting on my PM, but Shiro is going to get dragged to DnD by Chris at some point! ANY OTHER PEOPLE WANT TO WATCH HIM GET WAY TOO INTO IT even though it's so nerdy

[shiromadoushi]

Someone say D&D~

[entertainaplanb]

In general, Becky could use some friends! For one thing HOW ABOUT A SECRET NUMBERS-HAVING EDUCATORS CLUB.

Also at some point I think it would be hilarious if she ended up squashing something with a fire extinguisher. (There are canon reasons.) If anyone has a scuttly robot sort of thing they'd like to offer up, since an animal (infested or not) would be a little squishy, do let me know!

[icy_heavens]

Welp, Toushirou hasn't got much going on plotwise at the moment and I didn't opt him in for the super secret PM-plotting business.

But. I am always willing to throw him around into any plots and general shenanigans. Like a lot of kids, he has a tendency to hang around in the park, usually with a soccer ball so he can practice. He also runs errands for his grandma some days, so he can be found in various places and making use of public transportation.

Yeah, that's about all I can think of right now. But if you want this little brat for anything, feel free to toss out ideas!

[needsmorezippers]

They still need to play soccer! or we can assume they've actually done that. XD

CR / PLOT please!

[depolarized]

Heya! So neeed to push Riku out there and would love to establish some actual CR. :> He needs... more of everything, really. Tease him, snark at him, throw him off a cliff-- pretttty chill about most things. Iiif we've talked before and you'd like to plot out something more concrete, also welcome!

Some possible pings: Camping/hiking/outdoors, athletics/martial arts, parkour, photography, weird glowy green magic, gaming, fantasy stuff, japan/japanese, past!delinquency, past!drugabuse, past!richkid, tattoos, pets/dog, annnnd idk maybe cooking. He's terrible. He burns everything. Gives it character.

Post/Log Scenarios I'm considering: (A) Hired on for model search/sidewalk shoot contest (B)Teaching people parkour or self-defense!martial arts (C)Nightmares from an echo (D)Getting locked in somewhere/need to get in somewhere, thus discovering he has a keyblade-- or an overly large freaky wing thing that only vaguely resembles a key.

For plot: Riku signed up and just got his event! :D Mods mentioned that I can discuss this event with others so, in a nutshell :

Re: CR / PLOT please!

[amberhearted]

AHAHAHA the accuracy of that gif

well accuracy isn't the right word but you know what I mean

Vermini swarm?

[playerspooker]

Relative newbie here still working on getting my bearings and settling into a proper groove - mostly by flinging Linda here out at network posts so she can be a jerk/smartass/wig out over echoes.

Speaking of, she...may kind of be getting a fear of them after what happened to Blues and his eyes - mostly in the vein of "oh god I have no idea what to expect what if something like that happens to me". So clearly this means she needs to have more of them set off to crank up the paranoia of wondering when the Terrible Things Happen foot is gonna drop. (Spoilers, it won't. At least not physically. Memories, on the other hand...)

Also, once I'm a bit more settled in, I'm thinking of doing an open post of Linda possibly running a DnD session at a gaming store in town - most likely a one-off since she relishes in total party kills and is kind of a horrible person when it comes to DMing, so if you're up for some negative-ish CR there, let's make it happen.

[doomedtheworld]

I don't know why and I don't know how we'd get it to happen but somehow I just have this idea of Vanessa accidentally making some kind of uber-rogue DnD character and becoming Linda's arch nemesis at the DnD table.

CR/PLOTTING please

[vanisland]

Miranda is being very passive... no, stationary would be a better word... with regards to this whole numbernet thing. She needs to actually see the danger firsthand or she'll never take it seriously*.

Anyone up for something like that?

*Okay, part of her is never going to take it seriously, since she's going to be asking for artists for a VN project later.

[lackinginfaith]

Kari will ream out anybody who isn't taking this seriously. Always.

[hoennmaihime]

PLOT:

In the near-future, Haruka is going to be running into a fungus monster. A growing fungus monster "that literally eats everything and anything organic in its path. While the spread cannot move all that quickly, anything alive or once-alive is in danger around it anyway. Small animals may be affected if near or in-contact with it, showing effects similar to Cordyceps fungi"

"It may jump to humans as well, but is curable if promptly treated. It starts in one place, but then rapidly begins growing larger and thus 'stronger' and more dangerous the longer something isn't done. If it infects animals, it's a possibility that they could spread it to somewhere else."

"You can have a little bit of creative freedom with this. How difficult it is to eradicate depends on you... and whatever actions the player characters take."

SO WHAT I'M THINKING IS Haruka runs into the monster on her way home from school. Her first reaction (after taking a photo on her phone) is to run home for a suitable ~disguise~ (basically something that isn't her fancy school's easily-identifiable uniform), go to the nearest minimart, buy the large salt shaker they have, discretely smuggle it back to the scene and douse that ugly motherfucker

...but it doesn't work :c

and that's when she notices that it's grown from the photo she took earlier

TIME TO LET THE NETWORK KNOW so that they can be on the lookout. Additionally, Haruka proposes comes back at night to try shooting...? it...? so that less attention is drawn than would be from using a gun in daylight. Except in case that doesn't work (spoilers: it won't) some of you people with your fire powers and your ice powers and electricity powers and just general destroying-shit-thoroughly powers should come along to help her deal with this shit. Also somebody who knows how to put out fires, that would probably be useful.

and also that you should probably disguise yourselves in case they're filming the area to see who turns up with night vision cameras or whatever you can't be too careful

[iaijutsu]

I cannot offer awesome wrecking shit powers, but Hajime will be respectfully requesting those photos to stick in the FAQ as more "LOOK, NEW PEOPLE, IF YOU SEE SHIT LIKE THIS THEN BE CAREFUL FFS"

[not_good_not_wicked]

General plotting post here!

- Vermini swarm! I've got some super gross but ultimately harmless ideas for what I want to do with this, but it involves things being dark, so if anyone wants to absorb some of my reflected randomly-chosen-by-the-mods glory, they'll need an excuse to be walking somewhere with Marisa at night. She goes to the gym, so maybe she has a buddy she gives a ride home with when she leaves and it can happen in the parking lot.

- I like to think the show and tell log was pretty fun, who wants teenagers meeting in the woods to hang out irresponsibly to be an ongoing tradition?

- It's been WAY to long since I joined the game for Marisa to not have stolen borrowed anyone's stuff. Any of Marisa's friends (or just vague acquaintances) who want to be bothered?

[shiromadoushi]

Bakura is very often at the gym working out his anger issues via punching large bags of sand. And heck yes Midnight Society~ [I... still need to have him kinda summon Diabound in that.]

[argents]

i didn't sign banagher up for this go around at chosen plot shenanigans, but if anyone wants him and his magical space brain around for anything, feel free to ping me! for all your meaningful fretting needs.

other than that, i'm seriously going to try to work out the logistics of starting to echo back his giant robot unicorn, so i'm still on the lookout for tech-savvy CR who might be able to eventually help him with this! or other robot pilots to commiserate with. and possible future connections to maybe figure out how to provide fuel and power for this bad boy because contrary to popular believe, robot unicorns don't run on rainbows and emotional trauma alone. for the most part. ...and possibly a place to hide it.

as always, general CR is always welcome for your quiet and antisocial because he'll talk to anyone. he's at a stage where he's going to have to learn how to defend himself because he has zero clue how to and not a lot of initiative to use weapons, being a pacifist to end all pacifists, but it'll be a necessity at some point if anyone's brave enough to take on the challenge. negative CR would be wonderful too, in that respect! no one's really asked him to put his money where his mouth is with all his peace love and granola idealism yet and i'd love for that to happen.

[vanisland]

Well, let's see... Miranda wouldn't be able to be much help with the fuel requirements but if she finds out someone has a giant robot of any sort she's interested in the software end.

As for the whole peace love and granola idealism she hasn't figured out that she actually believes that yet so I think it'd be pretty fun to have these two interact anyway.

[drama8om8]

IT'S GONNA COUNTERATTACK WITH ITS LASER

I mean here's what will be happening to Octavia.

Some time after the 21st of July, your character will be subject to a very disturbing occurrence: an attack by an odd animal, resembling a huge, bright purple scorpion. Being stung induces nonstop, hysterical laughter for eight hours and an odd desire to be around other people.

Yes, this will also induce an Echo. The scorpion will also attack other nearby reincarnates as well and, while it can be killed, will be pretty difficult to do (and gross... bug guts, ew).

OH BOY~

I'm thinking somewhere semi-public but not full o' people (high school after hours, as kids are leaving their assorted after-school clubs?) for this, maybe? Idk POKE ME IF YOU'D LIKE TO GET IN ON THIS. Or in on anything with Octavia in general. You know how it is

+5 for relevant gamer pic

[depolarized]

omg happy injections.

Would be interested in getting Riku in this, if it's open to other reincarnates, though he's not quite HS age, so maybe if it's in the park at night, perhaps? Or someplace where people can have an excuse to be, like say a reincarnate party/gathering...

Also would be up for getting stung, possibly, because grumpy mcgrump having to laugh for eight hours is kinda amusing me. Will see if I feel that mean. xD

[scramasax]

A general offering-up of my bunch for the purposes of anyone who might like them!

Anthony is lying low. The particulars of his situation I do think have changed but are awaiting confirmation; in the meantime suffice to say that he'll not be "getting out" especially much but is always watching the network attempting to be HELPFUL!, while quietly and increasingly fussing how to decisively sort things out with the parents he hasn't spoken to in person for over a month. Existing CR ought to be able to count him in to ride with any potential shenanigans or bit of meddling he might be welcome to take part in - but meeting new people and furthering CR with those he doesn't know particularly well yet is probably as welcome ICly as OOCly! Particularly for anyone to whom he might be obliged to show that deathly visage that he's been made freshly shy about due to the reception of his last attempt to do so.

As another note I expect to have him advance another stage into zombification by the end of the month - but while it's quite obvious while the change is occurring and he'll feel this one, the apparent difference won't be stark! As he'll be expecting any future "advancements" more than the first, he'll be doing his best to quietly bear with it - but if anything it's all the more reason he'd like others to be aware of and likewise knowing to expect it.

Cinderella was submitted along with Shawn for a mystery event and I believe she'll be the one to whom it's applied. To put it in sufficiently vague terms, I'm imagining it'll at least initially induce silly behavior in herself and/or anyone else involved. If curious, inquire!

Shawn, meanwhile, has finished lazing about post high school graduation and is clawing on into making the most of his new rightfully-his time, spending his afternoons all around Locke City jackin' around, committing acts of vandalism or other petty misconduct, and gathering garbage for sculpture and found-art pieces. He is currently brainstorming how to approach a suitable work of disdain for Thunder Corp. - who he's taking on the word he's received as worthy enough of blame for cramping his style what with the threat of death for being conspicuous. I'd be thrilled to have him start something with anyone who he might particularly genuinely like or dislike!

[amberhearted]

Oh! Alex has probably checked up on Anthony-- just simple 'how are you doing?' 'free day, you craving anything particular?' stuff, making conversation if he sounds open to it-- directly using the number he provided, if that's all right with you. If yes, I'm down with handwaving or threading it out. Either is fine by me.

[abidan]

Hurray! Emery's going to be a part of the super-special events! He'll be seeing pulsing pink lights in the sky, so if anyone fancies bumping into him while he's obsessively sky-watching? That'd be marvellous. For the accompanying Echo I'm planning on requesting his ability to create / control fire (to a degree) with his magic + get that gold shine into his eyes, which would also be a good opportunity to freak people out. Accidentally setting fire to things with glowing gold eyes will be enough to garner a few raised eyebrows, right?

... Which is actually kind of a big deal, since due to a memory Echo he's been doing his best to keep his abilities on the down-low. That said, it's about time someone discovered that he's a ~creature of magic~ ... especially if you fancy mislabelling him as a fairy or something. Ha.

Otherwise he's getting on with his arts and crafts for his mun-made green festival, although his plans will probably be put on hold when all the weird things start happening. If you'd like to get in caught up in your madness, give me a nudge. Much love!

[hoennmaihime]

hey

hey you

I've seen you on the network now tell me what you're staring at

[jests]

ALRIGHT i feel like i need to get luke ~out~ more as, with the exception of a few, he's made a pointed effort not to socialise with anyone from the network outside of the network. so, whilst I'll be going through this post and commenting to other people shortly, if there's anyone that wants to form some form of CR with luke (negative, positive, whatever I love it all okay), I would be more than cool with that!

he is involved in the ~super special mystery event~! but as per the PM request, I'm not going to post details of it here — if anyone wants to do anything with luke regarding it (it's not a passive occurrence/THERE CAN BE FIGHTING, so—!), I'll happily shoot you a PM or PP to that effect with more details! I haven't fully decided what luke's going to receive as an echo, though I'm leaning towards something that kind of. prompts his shift towards being more of an asshole a bit more BUT IDK. something physical is also tempting, but I need to sit down and think about what would be best for the direction I'm intending on heading with him.

his ~occurrence~ is scheduled to happen "between the 17^th and 19^th " (of july), but I fucking love backtagging and as my birthday is the 20^th, I'm leaning more towards the 17^th so that I can (hopefully) get more tagging done closer to the date.

[hoennmaihime]

you know I want in on that

[needsmorezippers]

I haven't decided whether Neku or Phillip will be getting the plot point, but either way it has to be done alone so.

Neku is out for the summer like everyone else, and between dealing with the numbers and family stuff he's not in the happiest of places right now, so the best way to deal with this? Vandalism. Over the next... while, Neku will be starting up with graffiti-ing things (artistically, mind you). He also still is messing around with his Player Pin and the subsequent mind reading powers, so that's an option.

Phillip is being a kid. He goes to the pool and walks his dog and plays with his friends HOWEVER he is also in a community theater play! He will be inviting the network to come if they want! :D

[dorkytracksuit]

hey you. stop vandalizing things >:V WORK OUT YOUR ANGER IN A HEALTHY WAY.

[dorkytracksuit]

OKAY So this guy, started a Thunder Corp smear campaign a while ago, he's kind of trying to put together some kind of rally for it. (And because I like it when he fails I don't anticipate many people showing up.) PROBLEM IS, man is this boy terrible at functioning in public and social events! He's written up some stuff to say, but he's probably going to try really hard to get someone else to actually say it for him. So if anyone is interested in a TERRIBLY AWKWARD EVENT let me know!

Other than that I'm always up for new CR though I kind of suck at plotting meeting reasons so if you have any great ideas LET ME KNOW. Davin sort of runs an anonymous 4chan like image board if anyone wants to do something with that!!

[edhwierfan]

Banding together?
Okay so, after so many people got injured in the sage plot, Aeron's going to try to put together a group for patrols and such/keep an eye out for the strange happenings in case people get caught by more of the creatures. Since his last attempt at getting people to meet up didn't go so well, Aeron's trying a different tactic. He'll be approaching people individually for this, so if you'd like to get involved, please let me know!

Supplies/Weaponry
I mentioned him wanting to start an inventory for weapons before, and that's still going! Also, after he and Dr. Strider discussed some things, he'll probably be pitching in to get more medical supplies, especially for the doctor-types. If anyone's interested in that.

Other CR
Mostly, I just want him to get to know more people who can help him out of his shell a bit. He'd also like to start taking some hand-to-hand/defense type lessons, so if anyone wants to spar with a beginner, he's definitely looking for a partner!

[hoennmaihime]

okay so Haruka as she is right now would never ever ever agree to go on patrols, but she'd be good for organizing things, especially if there's more than one team - who is available when, who can cover who's weaknesses, who works well together, etc. Also maybe devising patrol routes?

BASICALLY if you need someone to micromanage your shit, Haruka is the girl you want. As for why he would approach her - her 'I found a fungi monster' post will actually be pretty competent in terms of organization? SO. And she might not be bad at organizing things during the actual strike as well, so.

[betterlogoutand]

Victor (Vaati) is trying to stay away from all the creepy stuff going on still because wow, he doesn't want to get murdered. Most of his echoes are still really subtle so I'm thinking about maybe giving him something more obvious soon-ish. WE SHALL SEE???

CR OPPORTUNITIES:

• Still working at the fabric store, for anyone who would shop there for any reason.
  
• COMMISSIONS. Hey does your character have uncomfortable/difficult-to-hide physical echoes??? He's already made a thing for Chris and he'll be giving discounts to anyone in the club if they need something modified to cover up their weird echoes. He's not really advertising this yet because he really wants everyone's money, but he'll offer discounts/freebies to anyone that he thinks needs it.

Jack (Spades Slick) is gonna finally be introed soon wow it only took forever and a half but I'm still up for throwing him at logs if anyone still wants to run into him before then. Best places to find him would be sleazy bars and anywhere that sells candy shaped like scottiedogs, or at the Thunder offices since he works there.

CR OPPORTUNITIES:

• Characters interested in Thunder!! When he finally joins the club he isn't going to be cooperative at all on that front but hey if anyone wants info on Thunder it'd be worth their time to bug him at least.
  
• He'll be getting an echo soon and LONG STORY SHORT he might be hanging around the hospital/clinic a lot (stabs, stabs everywhere).
  
• If your character has spoken to Karson for more than five minutes they probably already know all about him. This counts as CR.

Ryou (Haseo) is still kinda wary about the network and is mostly lurking. He's also gonna be keeping his identity quiet for as long as he can because paranoia I guess. Will probably get some echoes soon? And possibly a talking cat??? Hopefully?!?!?!?

CR OPPORTUNITIES:

• Works at a convenience store for the summer so hey, bump into him why not.
  
• I'd like people to run into him IRL in general and either realize he's that one guy from the network or think he's a totally different guy from the network who obvs just hasn't posted yet. He needs to be less antisocial u_u

[healspec]

Hospital? Stabs? Well, I play a night-shift ER nurse. Sounds like that could be a thing.

[thorny]

OK SO Hikari is being dragged into the mystery fun as well, but unfortunately for you guys the details have to be kept on the dl. Her little interlude will be happening in a public space more likely than not, though, so when it happens you're all free to assume your characters may have seen it unfolding if you'd like.

As for general stuff, I'M SUPER OPEN TO WHATEVER CR YOU WANT assuming your character can stomach Hikari for very long. She bagged herself from Vermini as per her latest post, so if anyone wants to harass her about that experience or see a Goth Loli skulking away from the clinic (she totally did a ding dong ditch of the dead Vermini, sorry guys) that could be cool.

She also hangs around Japantown a lot and is in general pretty visible if you want to run into her off-network, as she's always dressed up in full Lolita gear when she goes out. She's also off from school so she's got a lot more free time on her hands now sob.

Really I'm up for whatever you'd like, be it more horrible stuff or maybe even an attempt at a neutral interaction if such a thing is possible with her. COME AT ME GUYS

[happybirthdaytoyou]

At some point she needs to go to Eugene's bakery, Japantown location.

[forsakenwood]

OH and this lady!! Will be doing her own thing for now. I'm probably going to pass on actively involving her in plot stuff this week because I've got some non-RP stuff vying for attention and Alex is busybusy already. HOWEVER if anyone would hit her up for aid/advice/who knows, then we can totes do something!