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What's interesting, to me at least, despite all the reasons there is an implication that the demons and various factors that lead to a new vortex world, and therefore a new conception, persist. Old Luce is very much open in showing he already knows what's coming.
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Jan 11, 2016 17:50
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| # ? Apr 28, 2024 21:21 |
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Hikawa's Reason is predicated on the fact that ultimately humans will destroy themselves and everything around them and the only way to stop this is to prevent them from interacting with the world in a non approved way. In order to bring about this world he destroyed the old one thus 'proving' himself right and betraying his own Reason (Still better than Yosuga AKA the 'gently caress you got mine' Reason). Musubi is still the least bad of all the reasons, but a single person circle jerk is is still masturbation and you remain a giant wanker at the end. SITB fucked around with this message at 22:14 on Jan 11, 2016 |
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Jan 11, 2016 22:12
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It's interesting what imagery is used when those three are giving their spiels about their reasons. Chiaki represents Yosuga with a classroom, which is understandable considering how insanely competitive Japanese schools can be. Isamu talks about Musubi with a bunch of blank people walking around, the image of being alone in a crowd. Hikawa's Shijima lecture is done alongside a bunch of spinning terminals, representing people as cogs in a machine, I guess.
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Jan 12, 2016 03:46
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They're bhuddist prayer wheels, Hiwaka's reason is basically Nirvana whether you like it or not.
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Jan 12, 2016 05:19
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I have to say, you don't often see people complain about the march of technology, think about where it all went wrong, and then decide that yep, humanity should never have tamed fire.
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Jan 13, 2016 02:33
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I turn my back to Hikawa, doing my best to wipe all these Amala Drums from my sight. I can still feel the heat of the Mantra brasiers burning nearby. : Nue. Come. : Me eat?The mountain of muscle and teeth and claws climbs up to reach me. Cautious. Ready. : Nah, not right now. Sit with me.I sit down, and Nue curls up next to my leg. I pet the flawless fur of its shoulders. I've seen how that thing fights. How does it stay so clean? : I had a stepfather. We... didn't have a lot in common. He didn't try too hard to get along with me, but I mostly liked it that way. He made mom happy. It would have been rude to ask for more.Nue purrs. Why am I surprised it sounds like a cat? It has tiger legs. : We used to fight some, every once in a while, when he wasn't too tired from work. Honda main. I'm more of a Ken guy myself, but there's no accounting for taste, right? We were pretty evenly matched, I like to think. It was pleasant enough.I scratch the beast on top of its head, where I imagine its ears would have been. I can feel its tail snake coiling lazily around my leg. : The man had a daughter. Different mother. She had her circles and I had mine. But I could tell she was smart. And bold. And... kind. We argued, a lot, but I liked her. We were family, you know? Despite everything?Deep breath. : Mom... My mother... That's one memory I'm keeping for myself.I lean back a little. Nue climbs a step and nuzzles up to my side. I put my arm around its back. So warm. : Hikawa. Do you know the best way to kill an Oni with your bare hands?He does not answer. : You'd think to go for a sharp blow to the back of the neck, but their spines are crazy thick, you'd need an axe or a saw or something. No, the best way, it's to grab their big horn with one hand, and their jaw with the other... I know what you're thinking, they've got teeth and all, but they never see it coming, and they're pretty slow to begin with, so you usually have a couple seconds before they think to bite down. So you just stick your fingers in there and put your thumb under their chin, and you pull. I'm not gonna tell you it's easy, but it's easier than you think. You give that jaw a real good tug, with their horn as leverage, and it pops right off its sockets. Then you can just tear it off, and it usually comes away with most of their throat. Quirk of anatomy, I guess. At that point you can just wait them out. It takes them a couple minutes to realize they're choking on their own blood. I didn't say it was the quickest way. They're tough sons of bitches, and maybe they're too dumb to know when they've lost. But it's over.I stand up and face Hikawa again. He's still there; hasn't moved a finger. Nue gets off the ground, stands on its hind legs, and growls. : You did this. This is your fault. All of it. This... this sun. You put it there. I don't lose my poo poo when it shines, like everybody else, but there's something in my brain that feels like burning, and it's like... It's like I lose a name or a face. Or a voice. I don't like to think about it, but by now the worst thing about it is that it hurts a little less every time it happens. Still, I can't let it get in the way, you know? I could be worrying about getting in a good university, but instead I gotta deal with every rear end in a top hat who comes along, trying to turn this loving nightmare into an even worse one. And it's all on you.He remains silent. Of course he would. : And for what? For silence? You want silence? You've got plenty of money, buy yourself some earplugs and leave the rest of us alone, you miserable twit!I put a hand on Nue's back for an instant, and it settles down again. : You spared me once. I'll do you the same courtesy. We're even now. But I'm afraid I must decline your request. I haven't met anyone I want to see win yet. But you, I want to see you lose. : Says the mass murderer. : I was wrong to think that you would understand my ideal.: You're the only one who makes sense, and everyone who disagrees is just too stupid to understand, right?: ...It is now time for us to part. I will not feel at ease until all this is over. Do you not sense something wicked in the air?: I sure do.: Someone is scheming to ignite the ember that still glows within the remains of Gozu-Tennoh. : It is I who will create the new world! *: When the light fades, Hikawa is gone.  : I... I'm sorry. I had no idea.: Eh? You don't have to apologize for not knowing something I didn't tell you.: Do you wish you could bring them back?: ... : What a useless question. : There is no need to torment him with the impossible.: ...my apologies again.: No, no, don't... : Are you going to be alright?: ...yeah. Yeah, I am. Nothing has changed. We don't have any new problems. : Other than whoever is messing around with Gozu-Tennoh's corpse.: If that's not Chiaki, I'll eat Isamu's hat.So then. What's my next move?  *: The doors to the Mantra HQ are locked. I do a quick check around Ikebukuro, just to see if there's anything new.   : Heheheh... I'm glad I stayed here. : You... probably don't want to get too comfortable.  : There's a rumor going around that Gozu-Tennoh's regaining strength. Gozu-Tennoh was affable enough when we met, but if he's coming back and Chiaki can talk him into supporting Yosuga, which sure isn't gonna be hard, that can't mean anything good. *: We've done all we had to do here. Let's check on Hijiri for now.  : You could say that. : I heard you can't get inside Mantra's headquarters right now. ...The Manikins are worried.: All true. Some real sketchy stuff's going on in there by now, I bet.: Former members of Mantra could be involved, but most likely, they wouldn't try anything without a leader. : Maybe those Manikins are up to something themselves...: Well, I'm sure they think they can't be the world's butt-monkeys forever. No offense. : I'm more offended that you thought I'd be offended.: Aight then, I'll be on my way. Good hunting!Maybe Futomimi's ready to speak. *: We warp directly to Mifunashiro.  Cutscene: Prophecy: Yoyogi Park, eh? Isn't that where the fairies set up shop?: Don't look at me! I haven't been there in so long!: Nah, I understand, don't worry. Is just... evil power? The fairies? Really? : IT WOULD NOT BE OBERON AND TITANIA'S FIRST CRUEL JEST. : There may be something or someone else there by now.: Can't discard any theory, I suppose. But either way, we'll find out when we get there, I'm sure.: The doors were locked, if I recall.: There's more than one entrance to Yoyogi Park. Maybe there's some way to go around, or maybe someone unlocked the door since we've been there, who knows. Besides, if the Manikins can find a way, we ought to be able to follow them. It's not like they don't owe us a solid.  : He was pretty insistent on it, too. : There must be something important there. : I need to restore the city! I need to rush back!*: Maybe Hijiri can hook us up for transportation. Let's go back to Asakusa. : I've got no updates on Isamu. Is he playing dead or what...? Oh well, he'll give himself away eventually. ...In the meantime, why don't you go find out about Futomimi?: Oh I already... eh, never mind, just focus on tracking him down. : Oooh, glad to hear it, thanks for the heads-up. : He's got a lot of things, from weird drinks to insect-like things.: Glorious!: It's up ahead on your left. ...But sometimes I feel a strange presence around there. It's kinda scary.: Hmm, alright then, I'll be careful.  : Now, it's out turn to enslave the demons!: Yikes!: ...That's the mindset we need to be at.  : Use it if you're going to Ueno or the Asakusa Tunnel!The Asakusa Tunnel... I suppose that doesn't mean the one going to Ikebukuro. Maybe that's how the Manikins are going to Yoyogi.  : ...good question. : ...No, we have Futomimi! It must be possible! We'll make it... A world without humans or demons -- just Manikins.Ouch. I guess I might have to decide if I'd be okay with that, too.  : I wish that were the case.  : Hope nothin' bad happens.*: We're done checking out the Nakamise-Douri area again, so it's time to head down to where the Collector was working.  > The flames of the Candelabrum of Sovereignty are flickering wildly. So that's what that Manikin was going on about. Must be the Pale Rider. Welp, gotta collect the set!  : But, we worked together to build this city. We'll beat down that evil power!*: A bit further down the hallway, Zed levels up and masters Muspell, learning Xeros-Beat, a group-targeting physical attack that may inflict the Bind ailment. I discard Chaos Blade, since Xeros-Beat doesn't scale with HP and is therefore benefitting more from our high Strength.  We've gained a Dark alignment point, and while it's not enough to make us switch from Neutral, it bumps us up to the next tier of titles. We are now Master Francois Hawke. Alright then, time to find that Rider. Boss battle: Fiend Pale Rider *: Okay, that's rough chuckles. We should be able to do better right away though. Let's try ingesting Miasma so we don't get ravaged by Mabufudyne. ...nope, Zed gets petrified and shattered. Another try. Maybe with Muspell on, to resist ailments, and we can count on Nue to void ice damage. Boss battle: Fiend Pale Rider Redux quote:Fiend Pale Rider *: The biggest problem in this fight is the Loas spamming Debilitate, which applies one stack each of Tarunda, Rakunda and Sukunda. Of course it doesn't have to be such a problem if you have Dekunda available, but... yeah. They also know Mamudo, Mamudoon, Dormina, Tetraja, Venom Bite, Stone Gaze and Last Resort, but Debilitate's 48 MP cost can run them out of juice before too long. Of course they're immune to Death, Curse and Nerve, but they only resist Mind, so it might be worth it to use any Charm or Panic effects available to you. Charm is an iffy proposition though, because if one Loa kills the other, the Rider will summon a replacement, and the replacement will have its full complement of MP. A Loa brought to low health will gladly use its Last Resort, which the Rider is set to actually absorb, and can lead to the other Loa following suit and putting you at real risk of instant party wipe. The Rider himself is more into direct offense, but with a couple nasty twists. Mabufudyne is straightforward enough, and Blight is a multi-hit attack with a chance to inflict Poison. However, he also knows Eternal Rest as well as Pestilence, which inflicts Almighty damage and instantly kills all poisoned foes. That's why you saw me take a turn to use a Dis-Poison on Kushinada back there. Of course, on top of the poison from Pestilence, you've got the Loa throwing Dormina and Venom Bite around. I brought White Rider and Nigi Mitama along primarily for their outright immunity to all ailments. Fortunately, they were able to contribute plenty more than that, since White Rider packs quite a punch for a dude with no special physical attack skills, and Nigi's Rakunda casts did much to offset our Debilitated offense power. Neither the Pale Rider nor the Loa know Dekunda either, so Fog Breath and Nue's War Cry also did a lot of heavy lifting to keep us alive. And we could hardly fail to benefit from Nue nullifying ice and death effects. Anyway, that was that for the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. We heal up and save before we go any further.  : It's him. Definitely him.: Hmm?If they know who it is, maybe they're talking about Sakahagi.  : There's a giant hole there. We call it the Asakusa Tunnel. : Heyo! : Wow, you're sick of it already? : ......: Well I sure didn't expect this.: Hahahahaha! I'm sorry, I always wanted to say that.: Ha... haha... good one.: You remember me? I'm the Manikin that collects all sorts of junk.: Of course I remember you, nobody else is wearing that mask.: I finally opened my own shop! Take your time and look around. Since you helped me out before, I'll sell to you at wholesale.: Mighty kind of you. : I don't just collect junk. For example, I sell Magatama as well.: Not for long!: I thought they would be useful to you... It took me awhile to find them.: I appreciate it.: I have no clue how to use these things, but...: Trust me, you don't want to know.: It's super gross.: Feel free to buy them, if you'd like. *: The Collector Manikin sells mostly stuff we've seen before. Wagtail Plumes attempt to Charm all enemies and are sold nowhere else yet, but we got a bunch of them from Succubus drops back in the Obelisk. Of course, we're really here for those three Magatama. It's fortunate that we still have most of the money, because they're crazy expensive. And imagine, in Hard mode, all store prices are tripled; Sophia alone would cost 360000 Macca, which is more than what the Efreet who lost a bet gave us. We buy all of them right away, but it still only earns us three tickets. We came in with 464547 Macca, and we leave with 224547. : It's great having my own shop, but... I want to go search for something that nobody's seen before... I wonder if I should join your party...: Sorry broseph, you gotta be able to hold your own in a fight. *: Kamurogi is a fighter-type Magatama with decent stat bonuses, but weakness to magic is a horrifying drawback. It would teach us Blight.  Vimana is another warrior Magatama, with a slightly more balanced stat spread. Immunity to Nerve ailments is pretty rad, so it's a lot better to keep equipped at any random time than Kamurogi. Its first skill is Endure, which brings you back to life (with 1 HP) once per battle, regardless of what it is that kills you. It's tempting!  Sophia is a healing Magatama, with decent bonuses to non-damage stats. It's also the only one we have that nulls Expel effects with no accompanying weaknesses; the first skill it would teach us is Thunderclap. Aight, time to go.  : But, you can't get in, so there's nothing to see. : He went down the hall.*: There's a small Terminal next to the exit, so I quickly drop a save.  Oooh, right, that's another part of Asakusa we couldn't reach before.     : But... What's a 'Kimon'?: Oh, that's an old superstition. Or, well, maybe not such a superstition, in the end. "Kimon" means "demon gate", and it refers to the northeast direction, from where demons and other evil spirits come. If this place was still flat, the Imperial Palace would be southwest from here, and they must have built this temple to block the bad northeastern vibes and protect the Emperor from evil influence. : Hmm! You sure know a lot about that stuff.: I... learned from a good teacher.*: I assume this temple is based on a real place, but there are tons of temples in Ueno and I couldn't quite say which one we'd be talking about.   > The temple is sealed with a powerful spell. *: We can't go any further; the screen turns white and we're forced back to the overworld. Raja Naga levels up after the following battle; he learns Shock, replacing Lucky Find, and I let him change a skill, turning Counter into Retaliate, which is a counterattack with increased damage.  We find Yushima Station at the very southwestern end of the area.  Aw hell.  Yeah, that's definitely Sakahagi.   That one's dead too.  Great, in the dark with a skin-taking psychopath on the loose. *: We no longer have a Lightoma caster, but we did stock up on Light Balls a while back.   *: Raja Naga are tough customers, they can come in groups of three, and they all know Retaliate (making it near suicidal to just punch 'em), so I'm extra glad we got one on our side. We also run into Shikome and Ikusa, but Xeros-Beat is performing admirably here, and with Life Refill we don't even need to bother Kushinada for heals every other battle.  : Th-Th-Thank goodness it was dark...*: There's another dead Manikin and more blood in the southwestern tunnel, so we go to the northwestern one first.  Lots of damage floors in here. One hallway leads to a dead end, another to 8000 Macca, and the last one to... two Medicines. Yay. Back to the southwest we go.  Three ladders down, huzzah. The western one leads to a short dead-end, so I have to assume there's a hidden pitfall right above. A small room underneath the middle ladder contains a Mute-trapped Cube, a Soma Droplet, and a fixed encounter with three Titans.   It's not too tough a battle. A bit further in, we find a ladder up to B2. We're getting pretty far for the initial set of three ladders, so I resolve to just go wherever this tunnel takes me, then come back some other time to clean the place out.  In fact it's not too long before the path we're following breaks into another train tunnel.  Though it turns out to be a continuation of the initial northwestern dead end we encounterered.  We reach another station, just barely in time for the Balls to run out. : After that, a female human passed by. It's usually quiet here, but...A female human...? Chiaki's busy in Ikeburo, and even if she had any business in Yoyogi Park, there's no way she would have passed me. So either it's Ms. Takao, or another woman survived. Either way, I hope she's safe.  *: This tunnel is a lot shorter than I expected. I suppose that other ladder back there led to a dead end with some treasure. It still means I'll go back to make sure before long, but I'm okay with that.  Gaien-Mae Station is just a bit east of Yoyogi Park, so we're almost there.  : That vicious Manikin won't be able to do anything just by himself.  *: We have returned to the "back" section of the Vortex World, where the hospital was; in fact I think we can see it in this picture, all the way north. The only area we haven't been to yet is the bottom one.   Yup, this is the other side of Yoyogi Park alright. It's where we first met Hijiri, forever ago. And of course Hikawa's eyesore of a tower is still there, though it doesn't look like the fairies were too keen on picking up the construction work where it left off.   Whoops, there's a minor goof here. If we look up into the distance, we can see the distinctive descending circular terraces of Asakusa, with Mifunashiro in the center. However, we see them to the west, not to the east where they should be. This exact skybox would be accurate for the western entrance of Yoyogi Park (with Asakusa still being across from the entrance), so I guess they re-used it without minding the orientation. Atmosphere: Yoyogi Park For the home of the fairies, this place sure feels eerie.   : Everyone went crazy!: Crazy? : He locked the door, so the fairies that were outside are in a panic.: Oh no!  : That Sakahagi messed everyone up and slipped right inside...Huh. I guess he's not just strong for a Manikin, but also strong in general. I'll have to be on my guard. *: The nearby door is locked, just like its equivalent was on the western side. We'll have to find another way in. There are still northern and southern paths here, so we go south first because why not.    Music: Reunion with Master  : Uh-oh, I think I stumbled on the teachers' lounge by accident. : Well, hello. ...I knew you'd come.: There are so few of us left who haven't completely lost their minds... I figured we'd run into each other again sooner or later.: You heard about what's happening here, right?: Yeah, I heard the Manikin leader talk about it.: The existence of a power that can change the world...: Never mind that. How are you? I... was worried.: ...I'm sorry that I disappeared after you saved me. It was my god who did that; I couldn't do anything about it...: I'm not going to tell you what to do, but I don't feel super great about that. : But, my god has been protecting me since then, and I'm doing much better now.: That's good to hear, at least.: Hikawa won't be able to take control of me again. : What he envisions is a world where the thread of time is spun unerringly, without change... You can't call that a world. It's just wasted space, totally devoid of power.: I'm not gonna pretend all the peace is completely... unattractive. But, yeah, what good would a place like that really be?: To restrain the reborn world like that would be unforgivable.: Not to mention all the blood on the man's hands, too. : The world cannot remain in a state of chaos, nor can it fall prey to Hikawa's ambitions. : I know where that line of thought is going.: My god has spoken to me, but she has yet to reveal the Reason.: I don't know how this stuff works, but... I don't think that's how it works.: ...... : The mess with that Manikin serial killer?: Well, it's all because of the Yahirono Himorogi.: Let's pretend I don't know what that is.: The Yahirono Himorogi is a stone that contains an enormous amount of Magatsuhi. It grants tremendous power to its possessor.: Again with the Magatsuhi, huh?: Word spread that the stone is somewhere in Yoyogi Park, and now everybody is trying to claim it for their own. : Ah, now I get it.: Once I have that power... I'll be worthy of receiving the Reason from my god.: Okay, you've lost me again. : I'm not sure who, but I can sense a strong, evil power. Their power is so strong that I wouldn't stand a chance against it... But I think you would.: If anyone can, right?: If I promise to give you the Magatsuhi contained inside it... *: This is one of those sorts of semi-minor decisions where in normal circumstances I'd be thinking "no need to cut the update short for something like this, I'll just go with whatever feels most in character", but here, well, we're coming up to a natural break point and I figure I might as well get a feel for what The People are thinking. Yuko's certainly much kinder to us than anyone else has been, but despite how Hikawa lied to her about her role in the Vortex World, she still willingly participated in the Conception with full knowledge of what it would entail. If the Lady in Black has been honest with us, we probably know more about Aradia than Yuko does. Odds are we're going after the Yahirono Himorogi either way, or after Sakahagi at least, but do we trust that our teacher knows what she's doing? And even if we don't, would we deprive her of our support? Here as always, the Devil's in the details, and Kagutsuchi is watching.
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Jan 13, 2016 17:36
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Sure. Aradia is unbelievably shady, but the only real other consistent source of intel we have is the devil himself, and we're still playing his game without any significant complaint from us whatsoever. Yuko seems spineless for bowing to whoever has power while she remains weak even now, but she's also the only person who hasn't gone crazy with some harebrained Reason. Let's see where this rabbit hole leads.
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Jan 13, 2016 20:20
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Let's go with our dear, doormat of a teacher. If Aradia tries to backstab us we'll give her a one-way ticket right back to being an impotent godling.
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Jan 13, 2016 20:30
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Okay then She's been remarkably not a dick about things, unlike everyone else.
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Jan 13, 2016 20:35
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I'm sorry, but no. I have very little faith in someone who can't seem to decide anything for herself. Besides, we've already burned enough bridges to be considered serial arsonists, let's keep the party going.
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Jan 13, 2016 20:45
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Let me think about it Probably could agree for now considering how the OP implied this wasn't a huge decision, but if I were playing the above is probably how I'd go.
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Jan 13, 2016 20:51
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Let's do it. With all the surety from the three psychos and their Reasons, a little doubt might not be so bad now.
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Jan 13, 2016 21:59
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Alright. I'll get it for ya. We really have no reason to burn -all- the bridges, and honestly, she's the most level headed person here. Seriously. And if her god decides to backstab her, we'll loving PUNCH THE GOD OUT OF HER.
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Jan 13, 2016 22:08
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Yes. I assume she called us to the hospital so we could survive the Conception. She made Hikawa back off from killing us. She's made some bad choices, but assuming the Conception is... necessary, somehow, I want to be on her side.
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Jan 13, 2016 22:30
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Okay. She's the only human left (other than Hikawa, who's thus far more an exposition machine than a human) who has retained some aspect of her humanity. Might as well agree to do her fetch quest.
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Jan 14, 2016 00:36
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Sure. Fetch quests are amusing, we're getting the Magatsuhi, and I'd rather not have something that can 'control the power of the gods' in the hands of someone that's more or less 'great evil'.
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Jan 14, 2016 01:29
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Sweet, now I finally get to nerd out about a joke in Japanese: The phrase "Yahirono Himorogi" is meant to evoke a kind of odd double-entendre, as a Himorogi (divine fence) is usually an area of land demarcated by a set of posts and paper charms with a plant in the centre to represent the local spirit of the land. The phrase Yahiro also translates to "enormous," hence resulting in an awkward-sounding request from your teacher to provide her with an enormous area of consecrated land that you can apparently also carry around with you.
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Jan 14, 2016 02:18
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I'll think about it.
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Jan 14, 2016 09:01
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Sure. She doesn't have a Reason to coldly reject yet, so might as well get her the stone if she thinks it'll give her one. Who else needs a Reason right now, anyways? Hijiri?
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Jan 14, 2016 14:56
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Miacis posted:Sure. Calling it right now, Hiriji will create the reason of being the only helpful human NPC. He will not let his place be usurped.
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Jan 14, 2016 14:59
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No problem Besides, we can't think up a reason, but there's no reason we can't nudge someone in the right direction. It seems to be working for Chiaki, at any rate.
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Jan 14, 2016 20:18
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This seems slightly less landslidy than usual, but that still sounds good enough to lock in. : See? I'm not the only one who can't say no to a pretty face!Dude, stop digging.  : Also, Chiaki.: What's that? I can't hear you over the sound of being a legendary hero!: I'll bite. What's that sound like?: Like a fire code violation's worth of Bodyconians having a rave party two doors down the hall, I guess.
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Jan 15, 2016 06:32
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ModeWondershot posted:Sweet, now I finally get to nerd out about a joke in Japanese: EDIT: Oh yeah, sure. TheOneAndOnlyT fucked around with this message at 06:43 on Jan 15, 2016 |
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Jan 15, 2016 06:41
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: Yeah, of course I will. Whatever your god comes up with can't be any worse than whatever Larry, Curly and Moe have been dreaming up, right? : Don't mention it. I know you'd help me if our places were reversed.: By the way, you couldn't get into the park before, right?: Right, that's a bit of a problem.: Here, take this. It's the key to that locked door.> You obtained the key to Yoyogi Park. : Oooh, thanks. : No problem. But this better earn me some extra credit!*: I've just learned that there's an interesting nuance in Yuko's request that was changed in translation. From the dialog we've seen, it would appear that Yuko wants the Yahirono Himorogi because she believes her obtaining the stone will prove that she's worthy of receiving a Reason; it's barely a step removed from "maybe Aradia-senpai will finally notice me". However, in the original Japanese, her plan is to use the stone's god-controlling powers to outright force Aradia to give her a Reason. That certainly makes her seem less wishy-washy.  Before we use the key to enter the construction site, I remember we haven't visited the northern building here yet. We run into a couple fights on the way, all low level Fairy clan critters like Pixies and Pyro Jacks. Aaaaand there's a large Terminal up here!   : Is that human in the southern room in cahoots, too!?: I know you have no reason to trust me when I say this, but she's really not a danger to you.*: Alright, time to tackle the entrance.   Atmosphere: Construction site : Holy crap, this place has no business sounding this terrifying.: With an upstanding fellow like Sakahagi on the loose, any place has business sounding this terrifying.: ...touché.   : Ah, whatever... Pixies, deal with him!: You've got to be kidding.  : You're nothing to us! We'll chase you outta here!    : If they're picking a fight with me, they must be.: If you get too close to one without thinking, you'll be teleported somewhere else!: Ah, not a fight then. I should've guessed.*: Before we get in much more than a couple steps, we run into a fight with Setanta and Oberon. If we had any ally slots open, it might not be a bad idea to recruit them.   Walking underneath the right-hand catwalk here prompts a Pixie to descend from it, tell us "Leave!" or "Get lost!" and teleport us to the entrance. Not the end of the world, but...  The automap notes the "trapped" catwalks for you with exclamation marks when you get caught, so it's likely you can bumble your way through if you gotta, as long as the Fairy encounters don't do you in too bad.   quote:Lv57 Fairy Titania *: There are many of the punier Fairy-type critters around, but they're easily dealt with and will often run away. Only Trolls, Oberon, Titania and Setanta are any real threat.  : There's a platform in each one, so try climbing it. From there, you will be able to see the entire section and where the shining Pixies are hiding.   *: Ooh, how convenient. Man I'm glad I can just take screenshots; I'm sure the other sections will be more complicated.  : It's hard to miss, yeah.: That's where that Sakahagi is. But, you can't get into that section from here.: Lemme guess. I need to work my way around all four sections first.*: ...oh hell, of course they gave Setanta Dragon Eye. Why wouldn't they?  : Hey, can I have a minute?: Hmm? > ...You received Dis-Mute! : Uhh. Okay, sure, thanks. I'll just, um, put it on top of the pile, that way I'll use it first. *: Having seen the catwalks from above, the rest of this first section is a cinch to navigate.  : Yeah, sure, let's go with that.  : I hope that you do not bore me. Pixies! Play with him!  : I think they got the wrong protagonist there.: Oh you shut up.  *: Hmm, there are three identical doors here. We're currently northeast of the central tower. I expect I'll have to take a roundabout way, so I go south first.  The platform's over there, lessee if I can get to it from here.  We can't, but it's not all bad news. We run into a fight with a Titania and two Trolls, so I assume that the jabroni Fairy types are gradually being replaced by the heavyweights. But I'd rather encounter Titania than Oberon, because then I can just Xeros-Beat my way to victory. Zed levels up and would learn Endure. Maaaaaan this is a toughie. I'm giving up Mana Drain. It served us well when we had low MP, but by now it restores less than 30 a shot, we have a pretty decent MP pool (183, with a Magic Stat of three, counting Vimana's +1), Shock only costs 9 MP, and while Fog Breath is still expensive I can just pop a couple Chakra Drops if I run low. If we were a caster-type I wouldn't dare drop it, but being able to survive the occasional blunder is going to serve us better. Vimana stuns us, but that's easily cured. Aaaand the Chest contained a Balm of Rising. Let's try the northern door this time.  *: Okay, I'll want to take the western door afterwards to meet that spirit there.    The path to the next section is pretty clear, but I want that Cube first.  The Cube only has a Chakra Drop, but there's a Chest with a Sapphire next to it!  We then proceed west and south towards the spirit we saw from above, but there's a pool and another Chest (Luck Incense!) in the way, so we have to go around.  : ...was?: Sakahagi used that to summon a powerful demon.: Aw hell.: ...It reflects physical attacks.: Aw double hell.: *sigh* How did it come to this? *: One more section over with. Geographically, we're halfway there!    : My troops shall entrap you as you move! This falls out better than I could devise!: Does this douchebag ever shut up? Is that a "king" thing?: I dare hope not.: Oh, right, yeah. Nah, you're cool.  *: First order of business: finding the way to that platform.  Oh! Well then. A door just to the north leads us to glorious convenience.  : The High Pixies changed positions?: So that's their new trick then.: That gonna count as triple hell?: Yyyyyup. That'll do it. *: There's another Chest down there, so we'll have to explore for sure.    One of the High Pixies blocks the path to the Chest, so I hope they do move. Maybe it's related to the K phase? I spend a few phases running around up here and they're not going anywhere. Maybe they'll switch if we get caught.  : Alright! This time, let's try to cross-formation!*: Ah, I see, they switch when you pass under an unguarded catwalk. Going back to the platform, I realize that the catwalks are arranged in a square, and the High Pixies are now guarding the sides instead of the corners, which must be what "cross-formation" means. This is easy enough to work around. Indeed, when we reach the area with the Chest, they switch to "X-formation", which means they return to the corners. Nue and Succubus learn their last skills following the same battle, respectively Mamudo and Tentarafoo. They're ripe for fusion by now, so I switch in White Rider and Titan because their skill lists are looking pretty sparse while everyone else has either full skill slots or nothing more to learn. This place is actually pretty good EXP! ...I get so enthusiastic about running around waiting for full K that I skip it by accident, so it's another cycle's worth of combat coming up. I decide to make liberal use of Raja Naga's Estoma just for now. Thanks to Watchful, Okuninushi levels up and learns his last skill, Beckon Call, which summons a random ally to the fight. This is of dubious utility most of the time, but it can be a life saver if the Demi-fiend is afflicted by some ailment that prevents him from replacing dead teammates. Zed has a chance to learn Tempest from Vimana, which causes physical damage to all enemies. It costs a fair bit less HP than Xeros-Beat, and apparently it even does a bit more damage, but XB's Bind effect has been very helpful so far and Life Refill takes care of the HP cost, so I prefer hanging on to it for now. I finally get my hands on that Chest, and it contains a Bead Chain.  : Yeah, I figured that one out already.: There's a cross-formation and an X-formation. Try checking them out from a platform.*: We run into a group of three Trolls, which gives us an opportunity to try out White Rider's Fire Boosted Prominence. He one-shots two of them and maims the third. Overflowing with power, indeed.  And that's the third section done. Almost there!   : That Manikin Sakahagi went into the communications tower site! : By punching really hard. How else?: Rascals! You grow bolder with each passing day! : Aw man what. : Quadruple hell!: And not just that... An entire legion of my best troops awaits you!: I'm here to take out Sakahagi! Are you really so keen on him that you'd want to stop me this hard?: Now, you will die...*: We start running into battles with both Oberon and Titania for the first time, which makes it a bit more irritating to hit them all at once since one resists magic and the other resists physical damage. But it's still no great danger. In fact, despite Oberon threatening us with his best troops, at level 57 Titania is the strongest Fairy demon in the game, so we've seen everything they could possibly throw at us.  Hmm... This is the west side. I wonder if...   Ah-ha!  *: Well, isn't this familiar! This is the western entrance plaza. We could hoof it all the way to Shibuya to save and such, but there's a Fountain right here that'll heal whatever ails us.  : They locked the door, so we can't get in...: Ahem.: ...That's what I was going to say, but you came from inside! So, what's in there?: Obnoxious fairies and boring construction stuff. This door was practically better off locked; sorry to disappoint. : Absolutely. : You know... She's so hot! : Yeah, it looked pretty grim and occulty, that's for sure.: Gaea cult, was it?: Or Hikawa's perversion of it, in any case.*: We heal up and return to the last section of the construction site.  There's another set of three doors here, and I can see more catwalks. Welp, gotta pick one.  The far one takes us to a Cube with two Lifestones, surrounded by catwalks. Going under the northern one alerts a regular Pixie who teleports us to the center of the area. Yay, a teleport maze. At least those don't move around.  There is a path you can take that will let you reach the other side without having to be teleported even once, and if you pay attention to your map it's not too difficult to discern through trial and error.  That said, there's clearly a chest in the northeast corner, and I want it. After a bit of experimentation, it turns out the middle of the three easternmost Pixies will send you to it. Nigi Mitama learns its final skill. In addition to its natural Rakunda, Persuade and Analyze, it now knows all four elemental Boost skills. The Chest gives up its Bead of Life (restores all HP and MP for the entire party), and we can be on our way again.  That's the way in, at last. But there's another door to the southeast, and it seems easy to miss if you beeline for the central tower without paying attention.  That's a Bead, a Revival Bead, and another door, leading to a small Terminal. We gotta be close.  Welp, that was some maze. All in all though, it went a lot smoother than I remembered, and it really doesn't come close to the episode of sheer bliss that was Dante Tag.  Strong power warning, eh? I back off and try to remember... Hmm. Zed ingests Anathema, for the immunity to Death. We summon Okuninushi, Kushinada, and Sati. Cutscene + Boss battle: Corpus SakahagiHe had a big pet, but I guess even a strong Manikin is still just a Manikin in the end. Shame about the Magatsuhi, though. I may no longer be qualified to use it for what it was meant to be used, but it would have made amazing leverage. quote:Vile Girimehkala quote:Corpus Sakahagi *: For whatever reason I was expecting Girimehkala to use Death effects, but in fact it does not, so I used Anathema for nothing. Physical resistance would have been more useful, though only Gaea and Murakumo don't come with weaknesses that would have crippled us. And yeah, no, I didn't actually want Okuninushi to use Hell Thrust back there, but my finger slipped. On one hand, that eventually killed him (dig that moment where he starts his turn poisoned with 4 HP left and I take a few seconds to realize I've painted myself into a corner), but on the other hand, replacing him with White Rider was incredibly helpful. Oh, and you may have noticed that by any sane measure Zed should have been killed towards the end. The Endure skill saved our bacon for the first time, and certainly not for the last. So, Girimehkala. He has the typical boss immunities, and reflects physical damage on top of that. His typical turn procedure is to open with Beast Eye, use the half icons to Dekunda himself and cast either Tarukaja, Sukukaja, or Rakunda, then fish for a Blight critical hit on his remaining full icon to slip in a second attack. He also knows Panic Voice and Toxic Cloud. Zed couldn't do much to him, so it was mostly a question of using him to put out fires with items; Fog Breath was essentially a wasted icon and I'm disappointed in myself that it took me so long to learn that lesson. In these circumstances, having a buff spell instead of a debuff would have been vastly more useful. Sakahagi can be a bit of a mean surprise and may finish you off if Girimehkala left you in a sorry state, but he's not actually all that threatening. His only skills are mid-tier attack spells of all four main elements, and he has like 50 MP to cast them with. Mostly he just made me feel like a million bucks for finally being able to unleash a Focused up Divine Shot with impunity.   : Come back to your senses, have you?  : In my dream, I was a bad demon, hee ho!: No, it was not a dream.  : ZedPower, I ask you to forgive our discourtesy...: Huh. Isn't that a bit convenient? But I can give you the benefit of the doubt.: You may take the Yahirono Himorogi as you please. It is a sign of our gratitude.: You're, uh, too kind.: By the way... Before we were cursed, a human girl came here. She was beaten by Sakahagi, yet somehow survived and limped to safety, but...: ...!: I felt an evil power from her heart. Something even stronger than that of Sakahagi. That girl is not an ordinary human... : We shall take our leave. We all thank you from the bottom of our hearts. Please put the Yahirono Himorogi to good use... : It would seem gratitude is in order.: Hmm? Oh, right, that's your old crew we just pulled out of the fire. Well, no biggie.: If you had let me go back then, I would have returned to my kind, and then lost my mind like the rest of them. But traveling with you... I couldn't even begin to dream back then that it would grant me the opportunity to rescue my friends.: We sure built the daycare into a force to be reckoned with, didn't we?: We've come such a long way.: I don't know where this road is taking us much more than I did back then, but we've walked it side-by-side since the beginning, and I wouldn't have it any other way.*: Looking at the map, we can see that the exclamation marks are gone. We must be free to go wherever we please. But there are only two places we want to go to right now: the Fountain, and the Small Terminal that will take us to the other side of the Park, where Yuko is waiting. There are still random encounters with the same Fairy types as before, but we reach our destinations without incident otherwise.  : Those that were locked out went back inside.Cutscene: Fear*: We have two questions this time. The conversation proceeds exactly the same regardless of our choices, but what we say here today may turn out to be of immeasurable importance. The burden of plague, pain and ridicule. Suffering and humiliation. Do we fear? A life of betrayal, rejection and defeat. Deceit and torment. Do we fear? Fear can be an obstacle, and we must move forward, no matter what lies before us. What is our pain, compared to the pain of the world? But is it not also foolish to never feel the fear? To never heed caution and trudge along without minding the cost, to us and those close to us, present or future? It's up to debate whether Aradia is listening, but there is no doubt that anything we tell anyone, Kagutsuchi hears. FrankZP fucked around with this message at 20:30 on Jan 17, 2016 |
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Jan 17, 2016 20:13
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FrankZP posted:The burden of plague, pain and ridicule. Suffering and humiliation. Do we fear? No, to both questions
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Jan 17, 2016 21:49
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Tallgeese posted:As an aside, it is an error to try and assign standard alignment labels to the Reasons. I was wondering when people would notice this. All the reasons work within the rules - ergo all of the reasons are LAW no matter how much they may feel like law or chaos. Hence why they all suck  This is the realization I had, but didn't want to say many posts ago. EDIT: Oh yeah, forgot to vote. No and No We're not batshit......yet. mauman fucked around with this message at 22:24 on Jan 17, 2016 |
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Jan 17, 2016 21:49
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The world's ended. We may have been afraid as humans, but in the Vortex World, there's far too much to do and make right and punch to bother worrying. No and no.
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Jan 17, 2016 22:09
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Hell no. Sakahagi is always the best, if only because he acts like a total badass, and even with all that power, can only summon a souped up Girimehkala because he's so weak. Speaking of weak, an evil human girl and Ikebukuro mentioned in the same update? That can only mean Chiaki. Guess she's not half the hot poo poo she thinks she is if she got hosed by that wimpy psycho.
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Jan 17, 2016 22:14
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Do we fear? We control some of the most powerful beings in all of mythology, including one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. We fought against beings who rightfully call themselves gods, and we've won again and again. What's there to be afraid of now? We don't fear. Not anymore.
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Jan 17, 2016 22:23
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No, we will carry our pain on our backs and continue on. We will see the world as it is. And make our decisions in due time. No, we do not fear, we have seen what fear does to people. We will not fear. We knew it once upon a time when the conception happened. When we were reborn as the demi-fiend. But we have walked far and seen much. We won't let fear take us...we will fight for what we think is right...
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Jan 17, 2016 23:04
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We don't fear. Not about anything. This is actually kinda interesting, though I... don't really get it. Is the Rorschach god saying that freedom is bad or good?
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Jan 18, 2016 00:32
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I was fully expecting Aradia there, but she still creeped the gently caress out of me. I mean... Nothing scares us! Certainly not gods possessing our teacher and giving her whiplash. Seriously how is Ms. Takao not paralyzed/dead from having her neck twitch like that?
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Jan 18, 2016 06:51
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GeneralYeti posted:We don't fear. Not about anything. She's saying that it's not easy. But it would be a waste to be afraid of hardship now. Also, I totally forgot that Star Wars shout out was in there.
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Jan 18, 2016 20:14
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After all weve done and seen: Hell naw. In fact since Kagutsuchi is watching lets extend a middle finger his way.
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Jan 18, 2016 21:35
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We regularly punch demons, angels and gods to death, and when we cannot punch them to death we use our own demons, angels and gods to kill them anyway. No to both answers.
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Jan 18, 2016 22:19
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It's hard to fear when you have personally punched three of the four horsemen of the apocalypse in the dick and are using one as a shock trooper Also I can\t help but feel that every single human Francoise meets is just a little weirded out by his stubborn refusal to wear a shirt.
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Jan 18, 2016 22:39
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Gotta show off those sick-rear end demon tats.
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Jan 18, 2016 22:49
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I wonder if the questions are more meant for Ms. Takao to hear? Aradia says at the end that "you are what is right - that is my Reason". Does Takao not remember that, or is that not a sufficient Reason for her? This Reason sounds like a Chaos reason; you make up the rules and change them as you please. Fear is a funny thing. Do we fear being alone? Do we fear we will support a bad Reason, and have to live with making a horrible new Creation? Fear can't be allowed to rule us, but without feeling fear, we risk getting cocky, getting complacent, and making equally poor decisions as if we had let Fear rule us. Yes, we fear, but we march on anyways, because somebody has to save this mess from itself.
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Jan 18, 2016 23:06
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I think Aradia is saying her Reason is that Demi must choose on his own, and (I assume) face the fear that comes from that choice. It sounds like a reason of no commitment, even though she does intend to become one of the vying forces. Yet despite this, she's more often encouraging him to judge the other Reasons than actually explaining what her own Reason is. She wants him to choose, and that's really all she wants. Maybe that's why Yoko claims she hasn't been given a Reason. Reasons thus far had some sort of plan or vision of the new world, and while Aradia has life concepts and an ideology, she also cares little about how the world will be rebuilt.
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Jan 18, 2016 23:50
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Yes. Yes we are afraid. Afraid of all these things. Why wouldn't we be? They would all be terrible things to happen. We can't pretend they don't exist. We can't pretend they can't affect us. We can't pretend we are above it. If we did, well... We've seen what would happen if we did. None of those are the person we want to be.
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Jan 19, 2016 01:40
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