Christopher
From the sea of people within the Sanctum Mesa, the sounds of cheer and positivity called out, emerging Starbi! A bright bundle of pure joy, exploring this new area, walking cheerfully, humming to himself with his eyes closed as he brought cheer and joy to those around him, literally sending positive vibes to everyone around him, not like most people needed it, but hey, maybe someone needed it! It hasn't been a bit since he made it to this new world, maybe a day or two! But so far, he seems to be taking things well! And it seems he accidentally made it at the perfect time, a festival, full of everything to games, food, people talking about whatever, perfect for somebody like him! He might as well make himself at home at this point! Things were going smoothly, he was walking about, he hadn't been there long, at least 15 minutes or so, he was just walking, minding his own business, waiting for whatever to happen to swoop in and drag him along, not that he wouldn't mind, something like that is exciting for Starbi, it's something that fascinates him, the truly smallest coincidences changing fate, how surprising yet wonderful to someone like him!

"Hmm hmm.. An enchanting happy ending.." The traveler mumbled to himself, a song that's been stuck in his head for a while.
"It's goodbye to me.." He mumbled, cheerfully spinning while speaking, some folks had some eyes on him, but Starbi didn't mind! In seconds, everyone paid no mind and got back to their own business, a bit happier than before!
It wasn't before that Starbi opened his eyes, as his expression of glee turned to naïve curiosity, as he tilted his head to see a group of people in the distance, a banana sundae-looking goat, a 20s-looking guy with a hat, some other folks but Starbi didn't pay much to the rest of the details, those were the first things that caught his eye, it seemed that the folks there were in some sort of scruff, yikes! But hm.. Maybe Starbi could help, with a little bit of extra focus, he sensed a lack of happiness from the group in contrast with the rest of the festival, and he deduced that it wasn't something good. Maybe he should wait until he should-
"Hey hey!" Starbi yelled out at a distance, waving with cheer from afar, as he approached the group gleefully without a second thought before he stopped and was a small few feet away from the entire group.
"What's going on over here? Seems like you guys aren't doing so good, thought I'd just make my way here and do something!"
Starbi spoke with glee, beaming with a happy smile, the atmosphere shifting from something tense to something suddenly cheerful and even relaxing.
William
*She snapped her head up at the man yelling over to the group, younger than her based off look which confused her as to why the hell he would want to get involved before she rolled her eyes at his overly positive demeanor. She wasn't a fan of people like that in the slightest as they just seemed so goddamn annoying being happy for nothing.. Then again, she was always just sour given how her life went, though she took notice of the keen detail of how his presence affected the people around him even slightly, they seemed to smile a lot more than they had before.. Maybe that was coincidence though.*
Bonnie
*Turning his head away from the group to look at the new arrival he felt his body ease up and his stance become more relaxed, confused on why this was happening he gave a small wave and said "Hello there, who are you?" While hiding his pistol under his coat to prevent himself from scaring the new comer*
Christopher
"Wahaha! Hi hi!!!! I'm Starbi!" Starbi introduced with pure joy in his tone with a friendly wave.
"I'm just a guy who got snatched from home and sent here! I seem to be lucky! I made it here not so long ago, and I get to be in this cool-looking festival, it's awesome here!!!" Starbi exclaimed with joy.
"Everyone seems to be having fun, having a blast, talking with each other, seems like my kind of place to relax in, y'know! I was just minding my business, then saw you guys! And I said to myself.. "Hey, why don't I see what's going on?", and here I am introducing myself to you guys, it's nice to meet you all!!" Starbi explained with a gleeful smile painted on his face.
Carl
She turned around to face the newcomer, speaking with her usual monotonous stoic tone.

"It is something extremely trivial that warrants no further discussion."

Her bangs flew back for a moment, which would once again reveal her heterochromatic eyes-before it was covered again. In fact, it seemed she made it a point herself to cover those eyes quickly.

"Now then, it seems we are doing introductions, and I shall follow. I am Rita Kanisuka."
Maureen
After hearing the gleeful newcomer's Introduction Athena turns her head towards them putting her journal away and starts waving excitedly saying in a louder tone then usual "Hey, Im Athena. Nice to meet you" Sitting on the ground in a crisscross apple sauce position right after.
Bonnie
*Seeing the actions of the witch lady he's gotten to call a friend he found it funny and entertaining to see the childlike behavior of the newcomer and his friend, looking at the newcomer he says "Names William Rojas" Offering the newcomer a cigarette*
Christopher
Starbi turned his head the the purple-haired lady introducing herself.
"Ri... Ta, Ri-ta! Cool name, Rita. I like it!" Starbi complimented in a friendly tone, turning his head to the white-haired girl.
"Huh, Athena. Nice to meet you too!" Starbi commented, turning his head to the 20s-looking guy he saw earlier.
"Ooo, William, got i... It." Starbi spoke, then looked at the offered cigarette.
"Oh, I don't smoke! You can keep it!" Starbi declined politely.
"Hope you enjoy it though!" Starbi added calmly, things seemed to be going decent! Nobody is being mean or anything, just some folks who are here for some fun, what harm does that cause?
Kelly
*He stared at the strange man Infront of him, he showed confusion in the fact that he just stared at him, didn't say a word or tell him his name, he then started to side step away while nobody was looking at him, mainly to get away from Akuko.*
Maureen
Noticing Max side stepping away Athena remembered that they were being questioned by a member of the O.S.A and jumps up from sitting and starts booking it as fast as she can away from Akuko yelling "SCATTER!"
Bonnie
*Seeing his friend now running while yelling scatter he decides to run with her while saying thanks to starbi for the help and see you again soon*
Kelly
*Surprised by Athena's sudden yell, he immediately step into a shadow and covered his eyes with his hat.*
William
*She raised an eyebrow at the group from her alleyway, exhaling smoke from her cigarette in thought. Why the hell did they just now decide to book it like hell, what, scared of the little kid or something? Probably not, but she couldn't identify any current threats.*
Bonnie
*While running away with Athena he sees the smoke from the alleyway noticing Emily and gives a slight wave while still running*
William
*She just stared at him go by like a statue, not bothering to return the polite wave he hurriedly gave her. She didn't even seem to like the fact he acknowledged her either judging by her unimpressed facial expression.*
Jose
All Kuouo could do was raise an eyebrow. Certainly, they knew that this person had an immense amount of credibility regarding the O.S.A. — Certainly more than the orange-garbed referee from earlier. Just the simple fact that he had the ability to ban any one of them off the premises and *She* Had authority over him was enough for the bandit to keep himself in check... For now at least. Once he gets his grubby little paws on one of those freshly stacked double-decker sandwiches it's over with. 
```
"Ain'tcha just a jar o' joy?" Kuouo snickered, acknowledging Starbi's bubbly attitude as he crossed his arms and leaned up against a lamppost to attend to whatever the stout lady had in mind. "Y'should prolly go chase after 'em," The bandit suggested, taking Infernium out and picking at his fangs with the dagger. "I'm jus' here to hear whatever this lady has t' say for startin' a street fight anyhow." 
```
Christopher
Starbi's head turned to the banana-colored goat leaning on a lamp post that was advising him to go follow after some of the people.
"Hmm... Well, seeing as I got.. Pretty much got nothing better to do, might as well go following them! Thanks for the advice goat guy, I'll see you guys around, a new branch of choices awaits! Here I go!" Starbi exclaimed with a smile that followed along with a friendly wave goodbye! As he then began running to chase after Williams, Athena, and.. Was there someone else? Starbi couldn't remember. As he was running, he slowed down to stop, he felt something.. Off, he felt as if the atmosphere had a sudden part of it.. Missing, but Starbi shook his head, he could focus on that later, he has some new friends to catch up to!
William
*She seemed to be at least a little relieved at Starbi leaving with how loud he was, muttering to herself before her cigarette finally died out, flicking it onto the ground and stomping on it with a sigh. She would need to get more soon, she was running low and she absolutely despised being out of them, but such things would be better left to after this festival crap.*
Bonnie
*While running through the crowds of people following Athena, he notices that they're bring followed by the newcomer, starbi I think they said their name was, he did like the person and the joyful nature of them so he would hate to have to kill them, branching away from Athena he runs into the nearest alleyway to get starbi to follow him*

*He hides in the dark areas with his pistol trained on the area he came in from*
Maureen
While running through the crowds of people Athena not noticing William following her and splitting off in the panic, runs past a fountain and into a nearby Library, taking a seat in a little nook in the back. She takes her Beret off and stuffs it into a inner pocket of her Trenchcoat, then proceeds to tie her hair into a Ponytail before taking a random book off a nearby shelf pretending to read.
Deborah
The light of embers seethe within the bowl of her pipe, their red heat weakly flaring beyond the opaque cloud of smoke lingering in a shroud. Its fumes flow in silver streams from the shapely painted lips of the one *White September;* Her expression, still distant and neutral as it ever was, did not change, even with all the boldness and disrespect of the several suspects running away from her. Yes—running from *Her,* Of all people...

```
"Hmm..."```

She took another drag of the pipe. Kuouo's suggestion to chase after them did not seem to move her, either; yet her lack of a response, itself, seemed to suggest that she had already given the idea serious thought.

```
"So it is..."
"Rojas, Ayaakiko, Max..."
"It does show character," She acknowledged, leaning her head back and tapping her pipe, "Giving me their names."
```

Akuko's cold front finally broke, as she gave a light shrug. Her right hand, and the pipe within it held, lowered to hang at her left hip; a forwards tilt of her head intentfully revealed the subtle glow of her light, silver, and almost radiant irises, previously concealed behind her opaque, smoky glasses.
_ _

```
"Kuouo Aiche Dee. A considerable share of my responsibilities merely regard the remembering of names," She motioned. "That is true also for you, Rita Kanisuka."

"Whether it is because you have a better head on your shoulders, or merely because you understand who it is I am more clearly, you lot have made this matter a grain less... Thorny, for me."
"It does show character, yes. In spite of being the ones behind this whole scuffle," She tapped her pipe again, its herbal blend now wholly extinguished.
"Ah, and speaking of your scuffle — why not settle it through a more... Permissible medium?"```

Akuko now grinned wholly, her teeth shown in a smile as she took quick strides toward the center of the crowd that had formed for the very conflict the group had started — and she had subsequently resolved. At the heart of the crowd, in a hollow amidst a large gathering of onlookers, there the woman of the sobriquet *White September* Looked the most fitting — she was, with ease, able to garner their attention merely by standing in their midst. From the silvery hue of her eyes to the dark, gothic attire she donned, all the aspects of her character gathered in a sumtotal of an appearance that was, alone, enough to command authority from those who beheld her. And indeed, she herself looked familiar with the setting, as she outstretched both arms to her sides — her pipe seemingly having disappeared without a trace — fluently rousing the spirits of the crowd:

** ```
"𝑬𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒆𝒎𝒆𝒅 𝒈𝒖𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑭𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒗𝒂𝒍 𝒐𝒇 𝑪𝒐𝒏𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒈𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒆!!"```**

_ _
The pale-blue aspect of her mana manifested in ethereal streams of energy that flowed like visible currents of wind, trailing from her fingertips to her feet, coalescing in the form of a small, elevated platform, whereupon she climbed with a single step. Then another, which allowed her to rise a step further, the former evaporating into naught but air, then another, and another, this process repeating until she stood a meter over the heads of the crowd.


```
"Good evening. I hope you have all found the accomodations so far acceptable!" 
"Yet the night is still young — the Festival has yet to fully flourish."
"So allow me to invite you all to the first event of the night. A simple, but challenging game: one which any one of you has a chance to contend in!"``` 

Bringing her left hand close to her chest to form a symbol and extending her right hand stretched to her side, she spoke an incantation:

**```
"𝙾𝙿𝙴𝙽 𝙲𝙰𝚃𝙰𝙻𝙾𝙶𝚄𝙴: 𝐅𝐢𝐬𝐡 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐕𝐞𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐂𝐢𝐭𝐲."
"𝙲𝚘𝚗𝚝𝚛𝚊𝚌𝚝 𝚌𝚕𝚘𝚜𝚎𝚍."
```**

It appeared first as an opaque, crystalline cube — roughly 1 meter on each side — before its form began to fade away, shattering and fading into nothingness as though the whole thing were conjured of magic, and thusly revealing its contents: **A... Fish?** Yes, a fish, but something much more than simply a fish: its form glistened, shimmering like gemstones in the darkness of the night, and its essence ethereal; faded; as though it were part-spirit and part-flesh. Furthermore, it swam through air as though it were submerged entirely in water, carried on little more than a current of mana that it had generated independent of Akuko entirely.
_ _

```
"Anyone may participate in the game, and its objective is simple..."
"Following after the spirit of the O.S.A, one of this festival's many benefactors, the goal of the game is to 𝐡𝐮𝐧𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐜𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐟𝐢𝐬𝐡."

"Soon after this announcement ends, this Spirit-Koi will be whisked away to a location undisclosed. You will have to seek it out and capture it..."
"...And vie to maintain 𝘰𝘸𝘯𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘱 over it until the end of the Festival, as other contestant may make attempts to steal it away!"

"Once you have captured the fish, it will bond to you, and you will 𝘰𝘸𝘯 it, unless and until another contestant manages to steal 𝘰𝘸𝘯𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘱 from you."
"Ownership will be transferred to another participant if they maintain physical contact for more than five seconds with the Koi's current owner."
"There are only three rules..."

"One! You may only fight with participants who have opted to join the Hunt."
"Two! You may not grievously injure or attempt to kill other participants. On-site staff will see to the tending of lesser injuries."
"Three! You are immediately disqualified if you leave the festival grounds."

"Everything else is permitted in the Hunt. You may team up, shift ownership of the Koi willingly, or hide once you have attained 𝘰𝘸𝘯𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘱."
"If you successfully hold the Spirit-Koi until the end of the festival, you will be given ownership of it permanently — as well as your choice between two exotic rewards, per one of this event's sponsors: the 𝘈𝘤𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘮𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘈𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘢 𝘊𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘶𝘮."```

_ _
Akuko snapped her fingers, as the Koi spontaneously disappeared — a shimmering trail of energy left in its wake, a forked trail of residual mana splitting in three different directions: **North, south, and east.**

__**```
"The Hunt begins... Now!"```**__