#[event] optimization

          “Uh-- are you trying to get caught??” Roman’s not gonna let all this progress go to waste cause of her slip up! They’re over halfway done with this little quest, yet she’s starting to get sloppy. Granted, the steam and heat in this place is pretty killer... Even with his white coat taken off before the start of this job, Roman’s got a decent sweat building up. His handkerchief can only swab up so much, so they better wrap this up faster before this gets out of hand.

          ”I told ya to space out the gimmicky illusions-- now look at ya.” Seems like the brat thought she could fall back on her Semblance any time one of those creepy androids got close, but she’s really pushed her luck by doing so. Roman leaned more over the railing to get a better look at his temporary partner from the next floor down, the next stage of his plan ready to go.

      To think, that of all the quests he could have taken on... Vergil’s limited power severely narrows his range of options, leaving him better suited for the easier quests. In order to alleviate his boredom, even the simplest of tasks would suffice... But this? Rock, Paper, Scissors? It was already bad enough that the son of Sparda felt degraded for resorting to a game he hadn’t bothered with since childhood, but this is... maddening.

     For every hand thrown, this “Ofiuclone” manages to counter appropriately. Every single round was a loss-- not even a tie. How can this be? Even with his reduced speed and power, this shouldn’t be possible. The normally calm and collected swordsman is on the verge of letting a single drop of sweat fall due to sheer focus.

     Another hand thrown-- and his closed fist ends up covered by an open palm.

          “Man, I wonder if this thing’s any good... Wish we could have gotten three of ‘em.“ Rider’s holding up one of those “Baja Blast” drinks that quest was going on about, courtesy of our local Taco Ding now open until midnight every night. He was expecting some sort of magical elixir that any mage would kill for... But as far as Achilles and his new buddy can tell, it’s just a normal, albeit fancy drink. ... It’s a nice shade of green though, almost like his hair. Maybe one sip wouldn’t... Wait-- No no, let’s not mess this up due to hubris. That’s a common theme among Greek heroes, Achilles shouldn’t keep the cycle going!

          ”Honestly, I thought this was gonna be a lot harder to hunt down-- like we’d be on a thorough search all night long... Other people were freakin’ out about this quest, but this is practically a cake walk!”

          “... This seems like an odd choice of a quest for you to worry about, Master.”

     Finding a needle in a haystack... taken to its most literal conclusion, it seems. The haystack before them loomed menacingly over them... ... Well, about as menacing as hay can be, at least. Overall, this seems like a pointless task to focus on-- yet Ritsuka was insistent on giving it a shot. He wouldn’t have his speed to rely on for this... and the Count has a feeling that burning down the haystack would be greatly frowned upon, so of course that’s out of the picture.

     Just as he’s about to ask how she wishes to begin, the Count spots her pulling out a bag... one with a crudely made label that simply says “cheese.”