For lack of a better name..! I'll think of something that sounds...fancier. Later.

Basically, incentive to actually get work done and earn those extra pet slots. Plot is the best incentive for anything.

I'm not actually sure what to do with this. I just vaguely know I want to...make something more interesting than the previous bunch? Um.

thoughts

Very vaguely, I want a bunch of characters that are fun to draw, have some depth (seems the last time the only thing I took into consideration was the "fun to draw" part) and..actually have a plot to work off, this time.

..no real ideas for now.

pets of note

Pet types I might want to get:
Irion
Lain (!)
Endeavor
Legeica
Celinox
Paralix
Rreign

Particular colours:

Reborn Torrent
Glacier Torrent
Arid Torrent

Nightmare Endeavor
Graveyard Endeavor(?)

Bloodred Mortiking
(not sure about this one, originally had it in mind because Blitz's rendition of it, in my memory, was amazing, but they had to go and change it...)
Nuclear Mortiking

Reborn Lain
Nightmare Lain
Glacier Lain
Angelic Lain
Spectrum Lain (okay, I'm not sure about rainbows.)
Seriously this pet is way too pretty

Nightmare Irion
(pet has potential, but the old art needs to be replaced...Nightmare is currently the best of the lot.)

Graveyard Legeica
Glade Legeica
Galactic Legeica

Nightmare Rreign (nightmare has loads of pretty pets)
Hydrus Rreign
Reborn Rreign

Steamwork Jollin

Reborn Kerubi (mysticcookie did the best reborns, sighhh)
Steamwork Kerubi

Glacier Popoko (THAT POUTY FACE)
Glade Popoko

Glacier Sheeta (so princessy)

Angelic Darkonite

Glade Devonti

Angelic Keeto

Current list of want:
1. Reborn Kerubi
2. Nightmare Lain OR Nightmare Endeavor AND/OR Nightmare Irion
3. Legeica of some sort
4. Hydrus Rreign
5. Glacier Popoko

Rest not confirmed.

Wow, the tag combination for this thing is..really strange.

---

Alriiight I thought about stuff.
https://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=0AWug3Xi1CJ4NZGM1cTN2bTNfNjFmbjlxcWJncw&hl=en
That's where the respective note in my phone syncs to. It has whatever ideas I thought of for this, though there's a particular one that I find interesting. Just going to copy and paste it for the most part, with some additional things:

assassins and thieves

Think of a place where the government is corrupt and so is the law enforcement- a place where the rich are really rich and the poor are really poor. Most end up in the "poor" category, a lucky bunch are middle-class citizens and the rich all have underworld connections. You can't do well by being honest around here.

The poor (or unrich) decide the best way to get by is to steal. Sometimes, kill, but killing is more troublesome than stealing. The brighter and more experienced ones gain notoreity and the rich seek them out to hire them. They gain money and status, and can perhaps get by more than comfortably after a large heist. Some quit the line and some continue to steal - it's their life and passion, after all; you can't compare that rush of adrenaline to anything else in the world.
Then there are those who turn to killing instead. It's perhaps an even harder job, and not everyone can deal with the guilt of taking a life. Some call it life-stealing, and trick themselves into living with it that way. The upside is that the pay is much greater, because some people really don't like some others and there aren't enough competent thieves willing to do the job.

In both cases, people work mostly alone, though occasionally in pairs. The idea is that too many people make it harder to avoid mistakes, but if everyone's good, then the job might just get done faster. Life-stealers almost always work alone unless there are multiple targets. It's up to the employer to decide how many to hire.

To keep their identities separate from their jobs (useful if they quit later), serious thieves (as opposed to mere pickpockets and burglars) usually identify themselves with a nickname and an emblem. Information for their services and whatnot exists on the Internet, if you know where to look.

what the heck does subeta have to do with this anyway

１ (Subeta pet species come into play when ranking thieves. When thieves first put themselves on the market, they are assigned a)(this doesn't work for non-thieves!)

２ People are the pets. They do have their creature forms but as a general rule remain in human form almost all the time. (OVERUSEDDDDD I already spammed the heck out of this the last time anyway)

３ People have names that incorporate/sound like the pet species. (Dei(dre) von Tieri? Lane "Nightmare" Knight? HAHAHA this strikes me as both incredibly lame and incredibly awesome.)

４ People have a creature associated with them.

summons

The creature is a kind of summon that is commonly possessed (can be bought with decent money, important for self-defense). It has no mind of its own and is completely controlled by the user (mind-reading technology!), but some people grow attached to them anyway. Rather like how some people name their possessions and treat them like sentient beings. The summon can be made unique to the person. To some extent, a person can choose the details - the model (species) and inclination (colour; this is what the summon is geared towards e.g. healing, attack). Can be used to power self up or summon, or do a lot of things, actually. Even things it's not good at. It just isn't as effective. For example- a healing type summon can be used in attacking, but it won't hit very hard.

The summoning device is practically indestructible, but in the case that it's broken or lost, most people replace it with the same type. Convenience's sake- you get used to the device's style after a while and it's hard to change to a new one. There are people who have switched, though.
Possibly is something like a handphone...the do-it-all portable device, bred with a swiss army knife. Perhaps everyone has a summon..? I like to think it's a higher-end thing, though...owned mostly by the rich or thieves. Or people whose lines of work require it...a brand of handphone, perhaps. Maybe there are inferior makes that don't offer as much flexibility as this brand. Perhaps this brand is the top of the line and while other brands attempt to produce phones with comparably strong summons, they can't match it.
Like cameras- regular devices are the cheapo digital cameras you can get anywhere, classy ones middle-class to rich-but-not-so-rich people use are cheap DSLRs, and the ones that everyone in the business use this brand (that is, the one named after Subeta pets and colours) which are like professional level DSLRs complete with an array of expensive lenses.

Might be something sort of Bleachy, where people activate their devices with a security code word, frequently the device's unique name, which is in the case of thieves, identical to their thief names. (For additional security, it also has voice recognition so randoms are unlikely to be able to unlock someone else's phone.)
Functions are inbuilt, mostly for safety, but crackers figured out how to customize their own, and most serious users have their own modified functions. There's probably an underground store that sells custom applications, like what Cydia is to the iPhone. A lot of these are dangerous, having removed the safety limits...
It normally runs on electricity, and is unsurprisingly high on power consumption. A popular mod switches the power source to the user's stamina when the battery runs low. A rarer, very difficult mod drains life for very high activity. (there is probably at least one REAL life-stealer out there, who drains life from other people...)

List of things the phone can do:
- Materialize a creature
The "summon" - originally a cute feature a nameless brand started, that became wildly popular among the crowd and suddenly all phones had it. Its appearance is customizable to a certain extent, and if you modify your phone you can customize it even further.
- Transform into anything within reasonable size (high-end phones)
A modification of summoning technology, but quality of the transformation depends on the maker. It's actually the summoning technology covering the phone body, nothing particularly special. Can't make anything smaller than the phone, or extending further than two metres away from it. Transformations are pre-programmed (to prevent people from making weapons or anything dangerous), but hackable if the phone's been cracked. Hardware modifications can extend the signal range beyond two metres, but not by much- most mods only remove the cap (two metres is the range of a strong signal) and the materialization gets thinner further and further away.
- Model- and inclination-specific functions
This is where the weird bits come in- like fast healing, for example. Some types are available only to people of certain jobs (e.g. Reborn-type phones can generate fire and are restricted; Mortiking, Velosotor and some other attack-type models are available only to soldiers, people working in security, and people who need bodyguards), but bribery gets you anywhere in this place. Pet type models such as Ruffie and Pherret have AI functions that can make the summon behave like a pet, and are popular with girls.
- Anything a phone does
Uh, yeah.

The summon is something like a solid hologram. /handwave /suspension of disbelief

story?

A bunch of thieves are hired to steal something. It's a huge job requiring the removal of a number of people, hunting down the exact location of the object, and avoiding people who want to kill them. The prize money (an unbelievably huge sum) will be split among those left standing after the job.
It's not a request sent in private, but one sent out to all thieves. The smart ones decline the offer. In the end the ones that sign up are the reckless and the fools. Of these, the best are picked.
It's an unnaturally large group to work with, however, the thieves try to play nice. Everything sounds incredibly suspicious, but when has anything not been? Besides, we're working with idiots here. But the real danger is when they start to realise that the fewer people they have to share the money with, the better - and this happens soon enough, when one of them gets killed in an incredibly suspicious manner while on the job. It then becomes a matter of staying alive even when dealing with one of their own, while trying to get the job done.
Basically, lots of people die.

The person who hired them is a mysterious old man who is behind a number of multi-million dollar companies. The money is real, or at least he can fork it over easily. His motives are less clear. Getting rid of a rival? Obtaining some piece of advanced technology? He might just kill off the last thief standing after the job. He might just be the guy who runs the company that makes these phones.

Have vague character ideas for a nightmare lain (all-round jerk who is suspiciously reminiscent of Izaya even though I don't watch DRRR sob) and a glade devonti (sweet healer girl who gets killed, possibly by said jerk).
10 + 4 character slots; how many thieves? Some are notable victims and/or opposition. More slots as time passes, though will not be a fantastic amount.

More plotting to do...

[edit]

o yay more plot.

The core of the mission is to recapture a phone. The phone, with the latest technology developed by one of the companies the boss guy owns, contains a human-shaped summon and an advanced AI program. Basically, it managed to escape from the labs (deleting any and all traces of itself including backups) and changed its appearance so it's unidentifiable. (it's also somehow untrackable) So it carries itself around and is somewhere inside the city.

Said phone probably hangs around the mission. Possibly participated in the mission. When power goes low it saps the power from nearby electric devices, and when it's really low...it can cause power outages. Its current goal is to stay free, so if anyone in the group goes any closer to finding out its identity, it kills that person. Normally it sticks to one form (and pretends to have a summon) and..yeah.
The phone body itself isn't particularly special- the best on the market, but that's about it. Can't be identified just by looking, the data on it has to be checked.

The summon could have been removed before, but the person whose voice could control it was killed when it escaped. It's not...killable...in the sense that living creatures are killable. It can fake death, but to remove the summon, hardware/software damage to the phone or the summon's compliance is required.

Ideally, the phone should be returned intact and in working condition, with or without the summon's presence. (With, even more ideally. The job details finding the person with the phone and the phone body, and bringing both of them to the boss, so in the best case scenario the successful thieves should not know about the advanced AI and the fact that it was a summon)

(man this guy should be an endeavor I'd have an excuse to get one YEAHHHH)

Still haven't got any real reason to go around killing people, hum. People related to the AI's development? Reckon it could also run like an extended wolfgame ("that's probably the guy who killed him let's all attack him tonight") that doesn't have any real time limits or...anything.

I'm also still not sure how to allocate the pet slots. I guess that entirely depends on how the story runs, but...there's just the niggling thought at the back of my mind that I only have 14 slots to work with, and I already have 3 (jerk + girl + phone) listed to be made...
Don't even have names, but I'm trying to leave that to later so I don't get sad when I finally have the slots and the names I want are taken. (totally want "Nevermore!" just for kicks, though. For jerk guy('s summon). RAVENS ARE BIRDS I CAN HAVE A RAVEN LAIN IF I WANT)

phone models and capabilities

Because I have nothing better to do with my life!

Colours

- Angelic
> Defence-oriented, though functions decently as an attack type as well
> Very Expensive. Used by the sort of people who can and need to hire bodyguards.

- Arid
> Popular with the girls (white, black and pink)
> Nothing special (so are Cream, Dawn, Dusk, Twilight, Lilac, Field, Gold, Marsh, Sun and Nuclear)

- Bloodred
> Attack-oriented
> Very high-precision transformations (i.e. it can make Very Sharp Knives)
> Mostly owned by rich people (rich emo kids, for the most part) and the military

- Chibi
> Slim phone, rather small and compact too
> Sounds cute, but people like to use these for spying
> The transformation signal range is reduced, however

- Darkmatter
> Has the odd ability to make itself completely transparent, almost invisible
> Attack-oriented, though functions decently as a defence type as well

- Galactic
> Larger transform signal range than normal (twice as much, so 4 metres)
> Balanced type

- Glacier
> Can chill its surroundings (spends more power to make it colder)
> Might be a bit sluggish at lower temperatures
> Defence type

- Glade
> Healing type
> Oddly, it can be modified to suck and store life energy, using it as a battery source, or for strengthening its healing abilities
> Unsurprisingly, nurses and doctors usually have one

- Graveyard
> Attack type
> Possibly more like a debuffer- normally saps stamina, weakens the immune system of the target; it's also easy to mod to suck life energy, but can't store it
> Restricted for military purposes (bribery gets around this)

- Hydrus
> Totally waterproof!
> Manipulates water easily
> Defence/passive attack type (basically, you hit me don't complain you find it painful)

- Nightmare
> Highest accuracy/precision materialisation abilities
> Balanced type
> Fast processes
> Unfortunately very complicated to use- no one can do big transformations and hope to not end up in an addled state of mind
> Restricted for military purposes, or rich emo kids (again, more bribery)

- Reborn
> Fireproof
> Manipulates fire easily- some people attach a lighter to it, though any fire within its transform signal range is controllable (as with water and Hydrus types)
> Very attack-oriented- defence is achieved by using attacks, but that's ineffective if the target can't be burnt before it hits you
> Restricted for..you get the idea.

- Scribble
> Very low precision transformation
> Very wide range of default functions
> Popular with kids

- Spectrum
> Very high accuracy (to the intended transform), average precision
> Popular with artists and hippies

- Steamwork
> Very high defence
> High precision, average accuracy
> Good for things that require manipulation (mostly used to transform into tools)

story?

This post seriously needs organisation...after more stuff is worked out I'll rearrange the information. For now it's a chronological dump of my thoughts.

1. Some billionaire boss's labs lose an AI currently in development. No way to recall so they need people to find and take it back to them.

The reason behind the AI's development- military? Not sure, but would make sense to have military applications:
1. Unkillable soldier - attacking the hologram does nothing unless you hit the phone body hard enough to break it.
2. Flexible - hologram technology lets people create anything. With limits, but still powerful. It'd be a huge step forward if this didn't require humans. Ironically the resultant AI is practically indistinguishable from human beings and so a lot of ethical issues pop up...
3. Energy sapping - steal the enemy's power supply and use it. (mostly applies to graveyard types) Current stage of development doesn't limit itself to certain power sources, however, and is also not very energy efficient.

Possibly other reasons as well. For one, it's a great leap for science to produce something worthy of being called sentient. It's not perfect- the AI is still young and hasn't learnt enough about the world. It's immature at times, and doesn't realise the gravity of taking a life. It's pretty much emotionally and morally underdeveloped, and doesn't learn that sort of thing quickly.

2. Put up an ad in the online thieves' market offering a large reward. Some tests of skill required.

3. Tell the successful applicants to find the phone and the person (actually the AI in holographic form) with it, alive. Also, get rid of some people.

No idea who's on the hit list, still...people who've been confirmed to have come into contact with the AI and discovered its identity?

4. Chaos ensues. The original decision to cooperate amongst themselves goes up in a puff of smoke when one of them is murdered under circumstances that suggest the killing could only have been done by one of their own.

5. The phone is still confirmed to be within the city. Finding it is a problem. Just for the heck of it, it mixes with the thieves, pretending to be unrelated to the case, but like..random un/helpful entity who's annoying sometimes. Kills anyone who comes close to discovering the truth, however.

The smarter ones notice it drains battery when near electronic devices. While this only suggests a particular type of phone, the rate of drain is conspicuously high. That, plus the fact that power outages occur more than coincidentally around it. At least one large-scale outage occurs when it attempts to create a summon hologram to prove it's human. That's obviously too suspicious so the person who requested proof gets killed.

The phone itself is obviously unwilling to return to the labs. Maybe because it knows freedom now, and if returned will only continue to be subjected to confusing copying and tests...

6. More chaos ensues. People get killed.
Glade Devonti girl gets killed trying to protect an assassination target, who dies anyway. Number of surviving thieves in the team drops as they suspect and kill each other.

7. Through some events the phone is recaptured. Possibly with the phone's compliance, threats to its safety, or damaging it and rendering it useless.

Or, a skilled and smart thief manages to snatch the phone body and turn it off, breaking the hologram signal.

In any case, the AI's identity is discovered and the phone body taken.

8. The remaining thief/thieves may have guessed that the employer means no good, and decide either to not return the phone or use its return as an excuse to get inside the building and..destroy things.

The boss figured the thieves might find out sooner or later. While thieves as a rule shouldn't form any attachment to the object of thievery and thus should keep the information to themselves, simply the knowledge that this technology exists is dangerous, and so the elimination of any remaining thieves was planned from the beginning.

9. Not everyone dies. Maybe the news gets out, or it doesn't, but life goes on.

setting?

Unnamed landmass, city of Centropolis

Similar to Macau - lots of casinos, which attract tourists. Other healthier tourist spots do exist, mostly related to the area's history.
Contrast between the casinos' glamorous appearances and the grey tired residential areas (should have some space for architectural messing around here). Youngsters aspire to take on jobs in the casinos, and tend to neglect education. Those that fail to find casino jobs and don't have enough qualifications sometimes become thieves, or attempt to be - being a thief isn't as easy as it sounds. When you're poor you can't afford to make mistakes because you haven't got money to bribe anyone yet. (And when you're good enough to be rich, you probably don't even need to bribe people...)

For a place where thievery is an unofficial profession, it's not actually that unsafe - you have as great a chance of getting pickpocketed as in any other city. Proper thieves don't steal for themselves, they steal for other people. Great thieves are frequently rich enough to live off their earnings with much to spare. Newer unskilled ones tend to shoplift and pick pockets, but it's an unspoken rule that this is not an honourable practice.

Phone is unable to travel out of the city- no large power source to sustain itself. The outside is largely natural landscape, and a distance away from the next populated area.