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Ice Phisherman posted:I was hoping someone would notice that. I'd be more surprised that someone didn't at this point
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Oct 22, 2018 03:44
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Pretty Pink and Min Yun – Sunday, July 28th, 2075 – Evening –Downtown Seattle In a greasy spoon diner in the shadow of the ACHE, Saanvi sat waited nervously. Just in case, she’d set up some failsafes in case she was kidnapped. A girl couldn’t be too careful, though she didn’t tell Kenji about that part though and likely never would. She drank soykaf and ordered a pancake while she waited at the booth in the back. At the appointed time, a small woman in a grey hoodie strode in and past a tired looking hostess to Saanvi’s table, and she pushed her hoodie back. The woman she saw was of East Asian descent and had a sort of timeless look that to Saanvi’s eyes put her somewhere between eighteen and forty-five. She had a round face, delicate nose and lips, short, straight black hair and hard, brown eyes that evaluated her surroundings carefully. What she noticed most of all was the woman's smell. She reeked of a trash fire and it was all Saanvi could do to contain her revulsion to keep from offending the woman. “You the talent?” asked the woman. Saanvi nodded silently and the woman slipped into the booth. “I do not talk much,” said the woman, “My English is only fair. If you do not understand me then say so. If I do not understand you, I will say so.” “I understand,” said Saanvi, quietly. "Good, know why here?" asked the woman. Saanvi had the feeling that if she answered incorrectly this would be over as quickly as it began. So she kept her response simple and discreet. "It's about running," said Saanvi, slowly. “Good,” said the woman, who nodded, “Delvers on teams don’t have shadowrunner names. Delvers not normal shadowrunner. Little need of secret in the ACHE because easy disappear. We call by our positions on a team or our names if they are trusted. Normally don't care in ACHE, but this is outside. Makes cautious. Until I trust you, you call me Shaman.” “I understand, Shaman,” said Saanvi. “Good that understand. Your name?” asked Shaman. She thought about what she should use for her name. She’d given this some thought and researched names for shadowrunners, though only through movies she’d watched over the years. Those movies leaned heavily on tropes like burning chrome, running mascara, pink mohawks and spells that could level buildings in ways that were not possible in real life. As an EOD, there was a term for someone who’d been so thoroughly blown up that matched the shadowrunner aesthetic. That term was pretty pink mist, which she’d shortened. “Call me Pretty Pink,” said Pretty Pink. Shaman pulled out a battered, old white noise generator that was about the size of a pack of gum and flicked it on. The noises of the greasy spoon diner disappeared. “Good enough,” said Shaman, “One of fixers recommended you along with Dog if dreams are to be believed. If fixer recommended you on own never would have met you. His methods seem strange unless know he is new to Dog. Clumsy. Still, first steps with Dog always clumsy. Is good. I am proud. Dog powerful over emotions for a time. Makes mistakes. I watch over him. Understand so far?” “I think so,” said Pretty Pink. “Good,” said Shaman, “What do you do? Why consider you for team?” Saanvi bit beat back her doubt and sense of worthlessness. She knew what she could do and used that to prop up her self-esteem. After all been through boot camp and advanced individual training for almost a year and a half. She was useful and that was what helped her through most days. “I’m an explosives expert and good with a rifle,” said Pretty Pink, “Not long rifles, select-fire only. Oh, and pistols too.” “Ex-military?” asked Shaman. “Something like that,” said Pretty Pink. “Good, I work with ex-military before. I like,” she said, stopped and searched for a word, “Professionalism, yes. Hard to find. Not always professionals, ex-military, but more often than not. Bomb maker highly sought after though. Much money if good. Not on this job though. Fixer do not want deaths. Do not know why, but I like Fixer. Pack.” “Pack?” asked Pretty Pink. Shaman hesitated before speaking, opening and closing her mouth several times. “Does not translate well,” she finally said, “Even in own language. Seen combat?” “No,” Pretty Pink admitted. Shaman wrinkled her nose as Pretty Pink took a nervous sip of her soykaf. “At least you admit,” said Shaman, warily, “Many boast. Fixer mention you not have own gear. Is true?” “Yes,” Saanvi admitted. “I can provide,” said Shaman, “You know Kalash?” “An AK?” asked Pretty Pink, “The 97’s or the 98’s?” “97’s,” said Shaman, “No grenade launcher attachment like the 98’s. Bad for enclosed spaces.” “Yeah, they are. Okay, the 97’s. The barrel climbs like a motherfucker and it’s heavy enough that even without the drat ammo that it’s more like carrying a piece of furniture than a gun,” swore Pretty Pink, “I’m more familiar with the Ares Alpha, but I’ve fired an AK before, yeah.” Shaman barked out a sudden laugh and nodded. “Yes, old but good. Never fails,” said Shaman, “Pistol. Ares Predator? Have some. Many sell them. We have too many.” Pretty Pink nodded and Shaman wrinkled her petite nose at the mention of Ares. “They have supply contracts with everyone,” said Pretty Pink, “It’s hard not to use Ares weapons.” This smoothed the wrinkle and she nodded. “Good. Armor? Grenades?” asked Shaman. “Yes,” said Pretty Pink. “Have flashbangs and smoke. Have others too, but non-lethal job, or at least try. Bad if we use frags when pack member ask no. You can rent weapons and armor. Buy after job if want,” said Shaman, “Rent costs twenty percent of take. Will waive ten percent if buy afterwards.” “Sounds fair,” said Pretty Pink, “I’ll look at the gear afterwards and see if it’s worth it.” Shaman raised a delicate eyebrow. “No bargaining?” asked Shaman, “Why?” This spiked Pretty Pink’s anxiety. She’d made a small mistake. As she thought about what that mistake had been, she realized that shadowruns were ultimately jobs, or at least that’s what they were portrayed as in the movies. However, there were other types shadowrunners from what she’d seen in the movies. They were the types with a cause. “You know that bombing a week ago?” asked Pretty Pink, quietly, “I knew someone in it.” Shaman stayed still for a few moments, but her face remained carefully impassive. No, Pretty Pink realized. Her eyes went out of focus. She knew awakened and if she were a shaman like she said she was, she was probably reading her aura. “Know I’m reading you,” said Shaman, appreciatively, “Nice. Not good at it. ACHE bad place for practice. Personal motive means more serious. No kill mission though.” “You said that before. Really no?” asked Pretty Pink, a mix of disappointed and relieved. “No,” confirmed Shaman, “We steal, we embarrass. Still do damage though. Ammo…Less than kill. Stick and shock rounds. Expensive, but other fixer has many. Wants them gone. Take up space. If makes feel better, gang is weak. Weakness not tolerated. Gang wars. Will be wiped out if made to look weak. Also less than kill doesn’t mean leave alive. Prefer alive, dead happens, yes? Maybe get lucky.” “Maybe, yeah,” Pretty Pink growled, “Dead happens sometimes.” “Good feeling about you,” said Shaman, “Low pay run, but we do…Ah…Legwork think is called. Lowers risk. Small team needs low risk. I am magical help. Spells and spirits. Good with pistol. When are you free?” “Most nights after 1800 hours,” said Pretty Pink, “Have to be back before 0500.” Shaman slid her a burner commlink. “Be in touch, Pretty Pink,” said Shaman, “Might be short notice. Two others on team. Meet them later.” Without another word, the woman that Pretty Pink only knew as Shaman turned off her white noise generator, flipped up her hood and walked out of the diner just as Pretty Pink's late night pancake came to her. Kenji and Saanvi – Saturday, August 3rd, 2075 – Late morning – Downtown Seattle "Sounds like she likes you," said Kenji "Really?" asked Saanvi, "She seemed ambivalent." "That's about as good as it gets," said Kenji, "If she invites you to play cards and doesn't cheat, that's when you know she likes you." They continued to wend their way down the path, though the noises of the park and the city in general were canceled by the white noise generator. "Pretty Pink huh?" asked Kenji, "I like it. It sounds like one of the old runner names." "Gentoo called it uh..." began Saanvi, who thought about it, "Very glam rock." "What did you think about him?" asked Kenji. Saanvi thought about it and there was that happy smile again. Not just a tugging at the corners, but a real smile. She was so free with them right now and he loved that. "Nice guy, sweet, a little scary, wears black and white and smells like uncooked seafood," said Saanvi. Kenji laughed and nodded. "Yep, that's him," said Kenji, "Keep going?" "Right, okay," said Saanvi, "I met him and Octo an hour before go time. They picked me up." -- Min Yun rolls her intuition 4 + English 2 skill and gets 4 hits. It seems like she’s good at business English. That is her limit for etiquette, which is pretty high. Saanvi again crushes an etiquette roll with 7(!) hits and Min Yun gets 4. No crit, but Saanvi impresses Min Yun. Saanvi has 6 intuition and 6 in the pop culture knowledge skill. Shadowrunners have been in movies for years, though many people think they don’t exist and are just a media fiction. Saanvi is able to keep from looking like a total idiot by saying little when she rolls a 3 on pop culture. Saanvi rolls 6 intuition + 6 perception and gets 6 hits. She notices Min Yun check her aura after Saanvi mentions having someone important to her in the bombing. This is true, because Krupa went there. She wasn’t caught in the blast, but bad stuff could have happened to her anyway. Min Yun doesn’t have much need for the assensing skill because opening up to the astral in the ACHE could potentially kill or drive her insane. She has 5 dice and only needs 1 hit, which is what she gets. Min yun is able to see that Saanvi believes what she’s saying. Saanvi wasn’t chasing money. She’s chasing revenge. Ice Phisherman fucked around with this message at 09:37 on Oct 22, 2018 |
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Oct 22, 2018 05:04
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Pretty Pink?
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Oct 22, 2018 05:18
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Every post makes me love her more
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Oct 22, 2018 05:46
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Pretty Pink, Min Yun, Gentoo and Octo – Wednesday, July 31st, 2075 – Past Midnight –Downtown Seattle “Get to the meeting place – Shaman” read the text. Roused out of her sleep after a long and boring day of training how to act around foreign dignitaries with Gilbrand, she'd almost missed the text on the burner commlink she’d gotten from Shaman. For a horrified moment in those seconds before she truly woke up, she thought her mother had called again to berate her and call her a whore again or whatever made up nonsense existed in her head about what Saanvi was up to. Sadly, that used to be normal. Her mother had often called her in the middle of the night while working late since before Saanvi’s then child self had been old enough to know what her mother’s insults meant. Like most things in life, Saanvi had been a quick learner. However, Scrapper was the one who handled those sorts of calls now that Saanvi was no longer protected by being in the military. He was a great robot and a good friend. Again, Saanvi left this part out. Kenji would be meeting Scrapper soon enough and she didn’t want to take time to explain just how weird she was right now. In three minutes from when she received the text she was ready to go. The Tir Peace Force didn’t allow for anything less than speed. Those habits were hard to break and she only spent ten seconds Scrapper to give him some love before she left. She gave the “retired” bomb defusal robot him a warm kiss on his camera eye before she left him behind. “Have fun, Saanvi!” called Scrapper’s excitable, tinny voice. “I’ll try,” she said, but paused, “Oh, just in case. Don’t run brainworms.exe if my parents call. Let it go to voicemail.” “Will do!” he said, happily. Saanvi waved and Scrapper waved back with his pincer manipulator before she left the apartment. Saanvi left her commlink behind and paid the taxi driver extra not to ask questions about who she was. It was a short hop. It was only three miles until she reached an underpass. Again, she’d documented where she was going, the number of the commlink and a number of other factors for a dead man’s drop that would help make sense of her disappearance if she did indeed disappear. If she didn’t turn on her commlink before Thursday, the consulate would get a text. Again she didn’t tell Kenji about this. She felt guilty, but it was hard to trust anyone besides Krupa after being burned so many times. So as she was dropped below the I-5 in in a sketchy part of town, she kept her Taser close. “You going to be all right, miss?” asked the cabbie. “It’s fine,” said Saanvi, “Drive away.” Reluctantly the driver took off. Saanvi took the burner commlink in hand. “I’m here,” she texted. A van rolled up and she was thoroughly creeped out, but before she could leave a door opened and she saw Shaman. She jumped out and handed Saanvi a heavy black duffel bag. “Open it,” said Shaman. Reluctantly she unzipped it. Inside was an ancient, battered AK-97, a scuffed armored jacket, two grenade pouches complete with flashbangs and a ballistic mask which had been carefully spray-painted pink. In the darkness of the city, she saw Shaman roll her eyes. “Gentoo’s idea. Put you at ease. New people nervous sometimes,” said Shaman. Pretty Pink searched through the duffel and found the Ares Predator V heavy pistol which she’d become familiar with in boot camp. Since it was a backup weapon, she found one magazine of stick and shock ammo and one full of regular rounds which she identified by looking at the tops of the magazines. She pointed to the regular rounds. "I want to make sure this isn't a prop," said Saanvi. Shaman raised an eyebrow, but said nothing beyond a shrug. Pretty Pink changed the safety from on to off. She kept the gun pointed down at the ground and away from the shadowrunner. Shaman seemed to have an idea of what she wanted and pointed to some graffiti on a far wall. Pretty Pink raised the pistol at the wall, fell into a stance, squeezed the trigger, the gun roared, there was a shock that ran up her arms that shook her teeth and she felt a thrill as the far concrete wall had a new gunshot hole. “Holy poo poo, this is real,” she whispered, as she lowered her weapon, the barrel smoking ever so slightly. “You good?” asked Shaman. “Hell yeah. Better than good,” said Saanvi, “I’m great.” She switched the safety from off to back on again and put the gun in the duffel. Saanvi hadn’t fired a weapon in months. Gilbrand didn’t trust her with them, but it seems like Pretty Pink was trusted enough with a loaded weapon. She got into the van, ready and eager to kick some rear end. Saanvi was definitely better than good. She was Pretty Pink. “Sup newbie? Firing your weapon indiscriminately already? We’ll make a shadowrunner out of you yet,” joked the driver. “I spray-painted your ballistic mask pink as a housewarming gift. I’m Gentoo by the way.” Pretty Pink got a look at him. He was a chubby elf with brown, slightly frizzy hair with average features beyond his bulk. He wore stark black clothing with a white t-shirt in the middle. However, what he lacked in distinguishing features he made up for in smell. Despite his features, he seemed to ooze a kind of greasy charisma. He also oozed seal grease, though Pretty Pink didn't know this at the time. The trash smell that clung to Shaman was added to by the scent of some sort of fish smell that wafted from the shadowrunner. Thankfully, he rolled down a window and she leaned against it to grab the slightly fresher air of downtown Seattle. “You mean like the penguin?” asked Pretty Pink. Gentoo hit the gas while Pretty Pink struggled to put on her seatbelt. “Someone finally gets it without being told!” exclaimed Gentoo, “I’m suddenly glad I went the extra mile with your mask. I got a good feeling about tonight. Low pay, but it’s a feel good job. I wish I could waste these Human Nation fucks. I like Ken-kun so I'll put in the minimum, but if someone catches a sudden case of the death I won’t be crying.” Pretty Pink remembered herself seconds later as they drove past a stuffer shack and a few houses. “Wait, this is a residential area?” she asked, “Will the Pea…Police show up?” She caught herself before she said Peace Force, which was Tir’s military and police force in one. That may have caused problems. “Nah, Knight-Errant is putting out some real fires,” said a disembodied voice through the van’s speakers, “No one cares about stray gunshots. Hi newbie. Sorry that I don’t know your name. I’ve been doing sixteen hour shifts on legwork for three days. I got sucked in against my better judgement but it's just so fun messing around under their decker's nose. Their local computer wiz thinks HeilHitler is a safe password and no I'm not joking. Not only is he a poo poo decker, but he's been trying for this girl who is way out of his league and he's been bemoaning just how unfuckable he is on forums posts to other unfuckables who think they deserve sex on demand. He's a laugh riot. Meanwhile I’ve been finding paydata and felonies for the past few days as I copy the data of every single commlink that enters the clubhouse. A few thought it was smart to record some murders. I’m Octo by the way.” The voice sounded playful, but the unisex voice turned bitter near the end. Since Saanvi was wearing smart contacts, an augmented reality cartoon octopus flew through the air in front of her. It carried an old style cyberdeck on its back. There was a moment of silence as the group took in the idea of murder selfies. After all, Human Nation required a murder of a metahuman and it was no secret, but it briefly set a somber mood in the van. “I’m S…Pretty Pink,” said Pretty Pink, almost dropping her name by accident, "Also by the way." Again a pause and Pretty Pink quietly berated herself for being the first to speak. “Very glam rock,” said Gentoo, after a long pause, “I like it.” Gentoo's remark was like a breath of fresh air. “Please ignore Gentoo if he flirts,” said Octo, mockingly, “Sea creatures love to warn the newbies. He’s already got two pregnant Asian girlfriends whose stage names are Yin and Yang like he’s some sort of horrible stereotype." "Sea creatures?" asked Pretty Pink. "Octo thinks he's an octopus," said Gentoo. "Oh," said Pretty Pink. "The most noble of creatures, the octopus," said Octo, piously, "You’re still a dumbass by the way, Gentoo. Don't change the subject. You're not getting away from this conversation before you get ruthlessly mocked for knocking up hooker sisters.” “Stupid,” grunted Shaman. “Hey, they like me!” said Gentoo, his tone offended. “Con…Congratulations?” said Pretty Pink, more confused and questioning than she wanted to sound. “Thank you!” exclaimed Gentoo, his tone full of vindication, “At least someone appreciates me! Hey, if I buy it, she gets my share.” The father to be took a turn onto an on-ramp and headed south on the I-5 towards Tacoma. “Oh, not your hooker sisters? No wonder they don’t like you!” countered Octo, “I’ve been telling you for six months now! They’re just living with you for free room and board!” “Right, scratch that, they get it. Sorry Pretty Pink,” said Gentoo, though his confidence didn’t sound shaken at all, “Anyway, Octo, you just don’t get it. They’re into me. We’re soul mates, the three of us.” “You are all of the stereotypes!” exclaimed Octo. "Oh yeah? And what kind of stereotype is that?" asked Gentoo, completely unflappable. "The kind that knocks up hooker sisters, apparently!" challenged the resident matrix octopus. Shaman grumbled something in what Pretty Pink thought was Chinese, but Pretty Pink wasn’t sure. She suddenly realized that this was nothing like the movies. There was no burning chrome, no running mascara, no magic strong enough to blow up buildings, no pink mohawks - Just three shadowrunners and herself. But what struck her most of all was that in the movies there was no petty bickering. These were people, not action heroes. Kenji and Saanvi – Saturday, August 3rd, 2075 – Late morning – Downtown Seattle Kenji was laughing so hard he was crying. He didn't miss shadowrunning, but he did miss moments like the ones that Saanvi just described. He missed the banter before a job and the elation of success. What Kenji missed was sharing moments like what Saanvi described with his friends. "Holy poo poo he is so stupid," Kenji said between breaths, "They're probably not even his." "Really?" asked Saanvi. Kenji continued to laugh for a while and he shook his head. "Probably not," said Kenji, who ended his laughing fit with a sigh, "I've been warning him but he's not too bright when it comes to women. Li and Vi, who were Yin and Yang when he first met him, well they hate each other. They just wanted a way out of the ACHE. I keep telling him and he keeps not listening. Maybe he doesn't care though. I don't know if he's in on what's happening or completely oblivious." Kenji passed a reasonably dry park bench and stopped. "Mind if we sit down for a bit?" he asked, "I want to put the groceries down." "Sure," she said. Kenji took a seat and put his groceries down next to him. As he tried to remove his jacket to put over her side, Kenji's noble gesture was foiled as she sat on his lap. "Now where was I?" she mused, as she leaned against him. "Walking before. Now you're on my lap," said Kenji. "Complaints?" she asked. Kenji checked with himself and found none. She wrapped an arm around him to steady herself so he in turn wrapped an arm around her waist. "Not a one," he said, "In fact I rather like it." She ran a hand through his hair and smirked at him as he felt the electric feeling of her fingers once again. When she smirked, it wasn't the small smile that tugged at one corner, but a real smirk. "Good boy," she said. "Don't tease the Dog shaman, we bite," snarked Kenji. Saanvi winked at him and then cleared her throat. He squeezed her side and she squirmed. Then she took a breath to steady herself and took a swig of the orange juice. Telling stories was thirsty work. "So anyway, since I'm not particularly stealthy, Shaman scouted the house in the astral and gave us a headcount. Octo killed their commlinks and let us know what to grab and where. Gentoo and I were about to kick down the door," Saanvi said, as she continued the story. -- Saanvi gets Gentoo’s name with a 5 logic -1 default knowledge check and gets 3 hits. She’s just rolling crazy high lately. Gentoo is pleased that she gets his handle without being told. It colors the scene with some flavor. I roll another etiquette test to see how the flirting goes. Kenji rolls slightly higher with a 3 compared to her 2. Ice Phisherman fucked around with this message at 20:24 on Oct 22, 2018 |
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Oct 22, 2018 08:01
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Wouldn't surprise me if Gentoo is fully aware of the situation with his "girlfriends" and just a) doesn't care and b) thinks it's funny to make it seem like he's oblivious. Can't wait for Fuzzy and Sasha to eventually meet Saanvi. I think they'll like her.
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Oct 22, 2018 14:10
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Ice Phisherman posted:The music that piped through was soothing to the senses, pleasant and bland, like some sort of sugary audio gruel. The smell of strawberries and fresh cookies filled the store which only made him even hungrier, which was the point as hungry people spend more money. As he shopped he found the source of the cookie smell and it was a smiling young man stood behind a glass counter where he was baking cookies. The baking cookies were on display behind heatproof glass and a harried looking woman had to pull her child away from pressing his nose against it since the baking cookies were at the height of an average child, which was the point as the children would want cookies. He was trying to drag the woman like an anchor back towards the cookies as she tried to quickly pass by. Just catching up again, have yet to read yesterday's post. Just wanted to point out that you could do without the heavy handed exposition of capitalism here.
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Oct 22, 2018 15:11
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Volmarias posted:Just catching up again, have yet to read yesterday's post. Just wanted to point out that you could do without the heavy handed exposition of capitalism here. But then how would we know it's cyberpunk?
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Oct 22, 2018 15:22
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jagadaishio posted:But then how would we know it's cyberpunk? Yeah, if this was a movie, Ice could show how exploitive the setting in the grocery store was, but in book form, he kind of needs to describe how the future grocery store is worse and more gross, it’s much more cyberpunk this way.
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Oct 22, 2018 15:32
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Surprised the ad cab doesn't have (even more) invasive and hooking advertisements, somehow.
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Oct 22, 2018 15:49
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These are things that happen already though, not the distant cyberpunk future. I'm saying that it doesn't need "AND THAT WAS ON PURPOSE BECAUSE MONEY".
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Oct 22, 2018 20:05
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Gentoo is 100% on the level and just likes bangin' these ladies. Octo is trying so hard to internet troll the dude and he simply isn't taking the bait. 
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Oct 22, 2018 20:14
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Volmarias posted:Just catching up again, have yet to read yesterday's post. Just wanted to point out that you could do without the heavy handed exposition of capitalism here. Kind of torn on the explanation. I remember doing papers in college about how stores manipulate people into buying more than what they need. For example, many stores put candy within reach of children. The checkout isle at the grocery store is an example of this. After all, what adult is going to reach all the way to the ground floor? You must really want those skittles to bend over like that. You know who doesn't have to bend over much? A four year old. They grab it and ask mom if they can have it. However, they will sometimes wait because their parent is busy or will be ignored while their parent is busy. Human psychology dictates that in about fifteen seconds, the feeling of ownership of an item sets in when someone picks up and holds said item. The faster you get the child to put the item back, the less likely he or she is not going to pitch a fit or that it won't be as bad. However if he or she has held onto it for too long, that feeling of ownership has set in. The child will feel awful because they will feel like not only are they not getting candy, but they will have an irrational feeling that they are having what is theirs stolen from them. They may not be able to understand or vocalize that feeling, but that feeling of pain is real. Checkout lines take a while to pass through and the longer you're in that line, the longer that child is bored, sees the brightly colored candy and grabs it because children are curious and highly driven to eat refined sugar because humans are not meant for the bombshell of rewarding drugs from the sugar that excites the pleasure centers in the brain. In many stores, especially high end ones, smells of food will be pumped through the AC or just released in an area. People who are hungry make worse decisions when it comes to food. It's why I always try to eat before going to the grocery store for this very reason because they cook pizza not far from the produce isle. My bills are always higher if I go in hungry and I will buy food that I know is worse for me which is often less filling. Grocery stores are tightly designed to manipulate shoppers into controlled experiences which maximize profits, often in ways that are extremely unethical. I state it outright because people assume these experiences are normal or perhaps merely incidental instead of tightly planned. This is just the grocery store. Ethically grey or even highly unethical practices come through multiple attack angles through business decisions, how labor is treated, our assumptions about "what is acceptable", design, placement, engaging the senses and even manipulating children. It's so ubiquitous that we don't even question it and it only becomes strange when these influences are suddenly gone. We live in a consumerist substrate and we take it for granted that this is normal in the same way a fish thinks its fish tank is normal instead of realizing that it is a tightly controlled environment. I feel compelled to talk about it in more overt ways because most people who read it accept these practices as normal when they are in fact highly manipulative and unethical. I believe that cyberpunk should be about more than bricks through windows and the aesthetic of rebellion over actually being critical of consumerism and capitalism. I don't think it's really enough to wear synthleather and give the middle finger to the man anymore. That's a start, but a lot of people get stuck there in the aesthetic - In the look of being rebellious. The first step in dismantling unethical practices is understanding that they are unethical at all. And perhaps it looks small on the individual level, but these threats are institutional. You look at them in the aggregate. Hundreds of millions of people being manipulated in unethical ways every single day in small ways adds up quickly, especially when you realize that these unethical practices are not static. Yes, these things are already happening, but those methods are not set in stone. They are being constantly tinkered with and refined to squeeze even more money out of people. I'm not really sure how to express that in story though without going on a long rant. It's a difficult topic to address and because most people take these practices as normal, I feel like I should be more heavy handed than normal. Deadmeat5150 posted:That was incredibly adorable and I love that now that Kenji is moving into an actual relationship direction, the dice made him a total dork. It's very fitting. I'm liking it too. Kenji is probably the mature out of the three protagonists (or so it feels to me) and being reminded that life can be new to him and that he's still inexperienced in ways makes him more relateable and likable in my opinion. The dice also go a long way in preventing anyone from becoming Mary Sue style characters because while everyone has something they excel at, no one is good at everything. Unlike in other systems where you get a flat bonus, Shadowrun dice will both delight and betray you because there are no flat bonuses, only the chance of getting more successes and further insulation from critical failures. You are guaranteed nothing. Ice Phisherman fucked around with this message at 21:35 on Oct 22, 2018 |
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Oct 22, 2018 20:22
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Volmarias posted:These are things that happen already though, not the distant cyberpunk future. I'm saying that it doesn't need "AND THAT WAS ON PURPOSE BECAUSE MONEY". These certainly are things that already happen but they are often not things that the average consumer thinks about happening to them. Let's take a topic that not necessarily the average person would understand it happening but not realize it. Proponents of capitalism tend to repress criticism of the predominate economic system in the world. Most econ programs tend to just study 4 years of cheer-leading the capitalist system without providing actual critical analysis to the system, looking for any faults or finding solutions to make the system better than it already is. What they do instead is handwave away complexities in an economy - money, debt, banking in general - and instead create overfitted modeling systems to match what they consider to be representative of a capitalist economy, and not what it is in actuality. The DSGE model, widely used in governments and financial institutions had an inability to predict or handle the economic crisis of 2007. It would aggregate all consumption of goods and services into one "agent" in the model, completely missing the point that there are different kinds of consumption going on depending on the wealth of a given person aggregated: People who live paycheck to paycheck handle crises much more differently than a wealthy person with a lot of safety cushions. Also it was DSGE models that were supposed to prove that deficit cuts and austerity would be the best method to regain private sector growth. Of course most sane people would find the above topic utterly boring or complex, even though it's as important to understand as how your own government functions. The more people get heavy handed on these topics, the more people can begin to understand and call for changes in a system that drastically requires changes.
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Oct 22, 2018 21:29
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Yes, I'm aware of Gimmes in supermarkets. My point is that it sounds clunky and preachy as written, and it immediately breaks the immersion and flow.quote:and a harried looking woman had to pull her child away from pressing his nose against it since the baking cookies were at the height of an average child, which was the point as the children would want cookies. Vs quote:and a harried looking woman had to pull her child away from pressing his nose against it since the baking cookies were, conveniently for the child and inconveniently for their long suffering parent, at an average child's height. Or even quote:and a harried looking woman had to pull her child away from pressing his nose against it since the baking cookies were strategically placed at the height of an average child. We all know that children want cookies. All that's necessary is to give a hint that this isn't an accident or a coincidence, if the point needs to be made.
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Oct 22, 2018 21:37
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Okay, point taken. I'll see if I can tighten that up without breaking immersion.
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Oct 22, 2018 21:39
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Taking a moment to stop and explain some consumerist strategy, or a gizmo in detail, is a genre trope. Whether it's Snow Crash explaining an economic model for pizza delivery or Neuromancer describing a laptop like an alien where you only get the full picture of what the gently caress is being described at the end of the paragraph, it's an integral feature of the genre in a way that even virtual reality and robot arms aren't. I was being tongue-in-cheek, but also serious. Detailed outsider's tangents on consumer practices and products is a big part of what makes cyberpunk cyberpunk. Reading Gibson describe a crazy cyberpunk convenience store and then realizing at the end of the paragraph that he was actually just obliquely describing a modern day convenience store is one of the foundational experiences of the genre. At least, that's how I feel about those kinds of heavy-handed descriptions of consumerism. Kenji and Fuzzy are pretty great vessels for that kind of perspective too.
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Oct 22, 2018 21:39
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jagadaishio posted:Taking a moment to stop and explain some consumerist strategy, or a gizmo in detail, is a genre trope. Whether it's Snow Crash explaining an economic model for pizza delivery or Neuromancer describing a laptop like an alien where you only get the full picture of what the gently caress is being described at the end of the paragraph, it's an integral feature of the genre in a way that even virtual reality and robot arms aren't. I was being tongue-in-cheek, but also serious. Detailed outsider's tangents on consumer practices and products is a big part of what makes cyberpunk cyberpunk. Reading Gibson describe a crazy cyberpunk convenience store and then realizing at the end of the paragraph that he was actually just obliquely describing a modern day convenience store is one of the foundational experiences of the genre. While it is a cyberpunk trope, it's not really how I've been handling the story so far. Changing styles of writing suddenly can be jarring and I want to keep the narrative consistent. Also I don't think that the story is strictly cyberpunk in terms of genre. It's definitely the backdrop, but I'm constantly straying into other genres too. Cyberpunk also has a kind of aesthetic that I often blatantly ignore or lampoon.
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Oct 22, 2018 21:42
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Ice Phisherman posted:Each political ad one trying to convince him that their personal truth was correct and that their opponent was some sort of monster. This sentence is... shockingly ironic given the recent posts.
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Oct 22, 2018 21:46
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Ice Phisherman posted:Kenji – Saturday, August 3rd, 2075 – Morning – Tacoma This was literally every commercial break while I was watching CNN primetime last night. /shudder Ice Phisherman posted:As he shopped he found the source of the cookie smell and it was a smiling young man stood behind a glass counter where he was baking cookies. The baking cookies were on display behind heatproof glass and a harried looking woman had to pull her child away from pressing his nose against it since the baking cookies were at the height of both an adult and an average child. The child was trying to drag the woman like an anchor back towards the cookies as she tried to quickly pass by. It’s good to see that Whole Foods made it into the Sixth World; where else am I gonna get 18.99 nuyen a lbs organic blueberries. Ice Phisherman posted:“Mostly up here though,” she said, her tone deadpan again, “Remember that.” Oh Kenny. I like this, and I’m glad that the dice made it so. Kenny, the lady-killing heart taker of elitist snobs, reduced to buffoonery by his real feelings. Ice Phisherman posted:I want to try telling the story out of order and from multiple points of view with unreliable narrators. I'm feeling like flexing my creative muscles again with a new exercise which I hope will be interesting. When this gets turned into a screenplay, I want to see palette swaps based on the narrator. Octo’s theme will be purple, Min’s will be white, Gentoo a deep blue, and Pretty Pink is self-explanatory. Ice Phisherman posted:Just in case, she’d set up some failsafes in case she was kidnapped. A girl couldn’t be too careful, though she didn’t tell Kenji about that part though and likely never would. This just seems like prudent planning. Ice Phisherman posted:That term was pretty pink mist, which she’d shortened. Ice Phisherman posted:“Good enough,” said Shaman, “One of fixers recommended you along with Dog if dreams are to be believed. If fixer recommended you on own never would have met you. His methods seem strange unless know he is new to Dog. Clumsy. Still, first steps with Dog always clumsy. Is good. I am proud. Dog powerful over emotions for a time. Makes mistakes. I watch over him. Understand so far?” Interesting comment. So Min doesn’t actually trust Kenny as a fixer? Yet? Ice Phisherman posted:Pretty Pink, Min Yun, Gentoo and Octo – Wednesday, July 31st, 2075 – Past Midnight –Downtown Seattle This update is freaking magic. Seriously, this is the most fun I’ve had with Blake Island in a while; goes to show how important it is to have fully fleshed out characters taking the stage. Ice Phisherman posted:“Have fun, Saanvi!” called Scrapper’s excitable, tinny voice.  screw you to the sticking place for making me want a robo-dog!  Ice Phisherman posted:“I’ll try,” she said, but paused, “Oh, just in case. Don’t run brainworms.exe if my parents call. Let it go to voicemail.” Hah! Ice Phisherman posted:“Gentoo’s idea. Put you at ease. New people nervous sometimes,” said Shaman. Hahah! Ice Phisherman posted:She switched the safety from off to back on again and put the gun in the duffel. Saanvi hadn’t fired a weapon in months. Gilbrand didn’t trust her with them, but it seems like Pretty Pink was trusted enough with a loaded weapon. She got into the van, ready and eager to kick some rear end. Saanvi was definitely better than good. She was Pretty Pink. This, as much as any other reason, is why folks become Shadowrunners. Ice Phisherman posted:“Sup newbie? Firing your weapon indiscriminately already? We’ll make a shadowrunner out of you yet,” joked the driver. “I spray-painted your ballistic mask pink as a housewarming gift. I’m Gentoo by the way.” Hahahah! Ice Phisherman posted:I like Ken-kun . . .” Hahahahah! Ice Phisherman posted:Their local computer wiz thinks HeilHitler is a safe password and no I'm not joking. Not only is he a poo poo decker, but he's been trying for this girl who is way out of his league and he's been bemoaning just how unfuckable he is on forums posts to other unfuckables who think they deserve sex on demand. He's a laugh riot. This would be funny if it wasn’t too real. Too real by far. Ice Phisherman posted:“Please ignore Gentoo if he flirts,” said Octo, mockingly, “Sea creatures love to warn the newbies. He’s already got two pregnant Asian girlfriends whose stage names are Yin and Yang like he’s some sort of horrible stereotype." Hahahahahah! Ice Phisherman posted:“Hey, they like me!” said Gentoo, his tone offended. Hahahahahahah! Ice Phisherman posted:“Con…Congratulations?” said Pretty Pink, more confused and questioning than she wanted to sound. Priceless. Ice Phisherman posted:"Holy poo poo he is so stupid," Kenji said between breaths, "They're probably not even his."  Ice Phisherman posted:"Walking before. Now you're on my lap," said Kenji. Alright, fine. This deserves a  Although I will remind the lot of you that we still have Julie sitting in a mental hospital, feeling bad because of her own ‘self sabotage’. 
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Oct 22, 2018 22:25
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I completely disagree with Volmarias, leave those clauses in. They're less jarring than the time you accidentally editorialized about the Blake Island corp kids and he's assuming everyone is going to be savvy because he personally already knew what you were talking about. Use the emotionally accessible magic school narrative to ease people into cyberpunk, don't shut cyberpunk out.
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Oct 22, 2018 22:48
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This is my take on it. As a social operator, Kenji knows how to manipulate people. As someone who grew up in the ACHE, grocery stores are still new to him. The manipulation these stores use to get the customers to spend more would be both obvious, and seem heavy handed to Kenji. In that context I think the description makes perfect sense.
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Oct 23, 2018 00:45
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Groetgaffel posted:This is my take on it. Making it explicit in-text that this is Kenji seeing through the manipulation is p. cool, though, yes.
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Oct 23, 2018 00:53
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Pointing out the subtle manipulation that occurs in something as mundane as a supermarket totally fits the story and Kenji would be someone who could pick up on stuff like that. However, Volmarias is correct that it is currently a bit clunky and heavy-handed. This is the first draft however and that's something that can be addressed and smoothed over when you are editing the story. It's not worth worrying about at the moment.
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Oct 23, 2018 01:10
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Pretty Pink, Min Yun, Gentoo and Octo – Wednesday, July 31st, 2075 – Past Midnight - Tacoma “All right, Pretty Pink, are you any good at sneaking?” asked Gentoo. Pretty Pink snorted out a laugh and shook her head. “No way,” she said, “There’s little about me that’s subtle.” Gentoo sighed and nodded. The bickering between Gentoo and Octo was over now. It was ten minutes until they raided the clubhouse and they were putting their game faces on. Pretty Pink felt nervous. She'd never been in combat before. All of that training and she wasn't sure if she had it in her. “All right, well you look big enough,” said Gentoo, “I’m thinking we go in hard then. We surprise them before they can put on any armor that they’re not already wearing. They’ll grab whatever is handy and we take them out as we see them. Octo, you said their guns are mostly upstairs?” “Upstairs and disabled,” said Octo, nervously, “At least any guns that are wireless have been, I can’t tell you that I’ve got them all, but most guns are wireless these days so take comfort in that. Be ready for close combat. Last I checked there are six on the ground floor and one upstairs. The ones downstairs are the ones yet to get initiated, though one of their number looks like he’s getting promoted soon. They’re called boys until they get their first kill, but a few of them are older. loving mid-life crisis actors." Gentoo snorted out a laugh, but Pretty Pink didn’t get the joke. Shaman either didn’t get it or didn’t care, because she was checking her gear in the back. "The one up top is a full member and he’s near a cache of combat drugs and guns," continued Octo, "All there is on the second floor is a single hallway. Downstairs is messier, but there are all sorts of choke points since the hallways are small. You’ll have a hard time getting flanked unless they go outside and circle around. I’ll let you know if that happens so keep an ear open for your commlink. The closest help is a quarter mile away and I’ve got most everyone tagged and tracked, so I'll let you know if anyone is on their way. If you’re fast you should be out before any help arrives.” “I go upstairs with spirit,” said Shaman, without looking up from her pistol, “Gentoo, take downstairs with Pretty Pink since new.” “Octo, what’s the response time out here for the police?” asked Gentoo, "Pretty sure it sucks, but I'm just checking." “T minus never,” said Octo, disparagingly, “Upgrade that to never ever now that cops are fleeing Knight-Errant and there’s multiple gang wars going on. The neighborhood is all but abandoned and the police rarely get called here. It seems that living next to a bunch of murderers and would-be murderers drops property values.” “How much gear are we expecting to grab?” asked Gentoo. “Not much, but there’s some good stuff to carry out,” said Octo, “They got their hands on a lot of combat drugs and some milspec submachine guns. Someone has been feeding them resources since the bombing. That means lots of new money and they haven't had the time to spend it all. They’ve been recruiting too and fast. This is the right time to hit them. We steal what we can haul and destroy what we can’t. I’ve got a safe code for you too. Don’t get sloppy though. These aren’t some doughy pushovers. They’re killers or would be killers. They’ll fight you so long as they think they have you outnumbered. Maybe longer if they have combat drugs on them.” Saanvi gripped her AK-97 tightly in her hands and grit her teeth. “Also I have the most interesting paydata,” chirped Octo, “I need to do my homework. Might be nothing, might be big, don’t know.” Shaman looked up, suddenly interested. “Big?” asked Shaman. “Don’t want to get your hopes up,” said Octo, “I cleared out some bank accounts as of...Right now, heh. This includes a small slush fund too. I scraped some info I might be able to sell, but the big one might be something big or nothing. Again, I need to do my homework. Sea creatures are great at legwork. I’d know, I have legs, so I’m four times as good. You should give me a better cut.” “I'm the one risking getting cut," joked Gentoo, "Hey, what happened to that other decker? Do we need to worry about you?” “Already taken care of,” said Octo, voice now dangerous, “I pretended to be that girl he’s been fapping over, invited him out for coffee and I zapped him with blackout when I asked him to come into VR. He’s face down and has been unconscious in his soykaf for about five minutes. I beat him up while you were all checking your meatspace weapons. Also I might have pointed him out to the locals in the coffee shop for his stash of illegal simsense porn and given them his password. The police are on the way. Fucker deserves it. I need brain bleach after sifting through that awfulness.” Simsense, or simulated sense, was a way of recording and reliving the experiences of people. It was popular for trideo shows and movies, but the illegal applications could become as dark as anything that could be inflicted on a living person. Worse still, it could be replayed over and over. Pretty Pink didn’t ask what the contents were. “You catfished him?” asked Gentoo, with a grin. “I am a sea creature,” chirped Octo, “Of course I did. I feel lovely about feeding him to the cops, but I’m busy.” “You feel bad about that?” asked Pretty Pink, suddenly taken aback, “Why?” The augmented reality cartoon octopus waved a dismissive tentacle while it hovered in midair, pulled its old-timey cyberdeck off its back and began to type. “I don’t want to give Knight-Errant anything,” said Octo, haughtily, “But like I said. I’m busy and I’ve been working sixteen hours a day for three days plundering their commlinks and reviewing the lives of these baddies for goodies. This octopus is going to need a lot of brain bleach and some R&R when this is done.” Gentoo set the van to autopilot, unbuckled his seatbelt and headed into the back where Shaman and Pretty Pink sat. “Weapons check,” said Gentoo, “We’re there in five. Mi…Shaman. Hey, can you do a final astral scout before we go? I’ll circle the block once. Not close, but close enough.” Shaman looked up, eyes briefly angry at the near use of her name in front of Pretty Pink, but she nodded. Pretty Pink dug through her duffel and squeezed into her armored coat, which was just a little too big for her and stank like trash. She checked her AK-97 to make sure the safety was off, the weapon was loaded and that her backup Ares Predator was on her hip. Shaman checked her own heavy pistol as did Gentoo, though he also flexed his hands. Electricity briefly danced between his fingers, claws came out, some sort of small stinger pushed from the tip of a finger, a larger knife-like stinger pushed from a wrist and there are a number of hardened nodules popped and groaned on his knuckles. His hands were ridiculously dangerous, and those were just his hands. Pretty Pink reevaluated her opinion of the pudgy, jovial elf. One by one, they pulled down their ballistic masks to hide their identities. “Hey, almost forgot,” said Gentoo. He reached into his pocket and tossed Saanvi a plastic bag. It had two orange ear plugs inside. He put two inside of his own ears, though Shaman either didn’t need them or didn’t care. “It’s going to get loud,” he said with a grin. Pretty Pink, Min Yun, Gentoo and Octo – Wednesday, July 31st, 2075 – Past Midnight - Tacoma The Human Nation of Tacoma clubhouse was a two story home that was nearly fifty years old, but those had been a hard fifty. It was lightly stained with ash from being too close to Puyallup and its paint had long ago been eroded by acid rain. The house was thin, narrow, pocked with bullet holes and looked inexpertly patched in some places. It was nestled like a fat tick in a neighborhood where anyone except for the most desperate of squatters had long ago abandoned the other homes. So despite the lack of care, the clubhouse was the best among them. The yard was overgrown with what weeds that could sprout in the blighted soil that had been poisoned by Tacoma's heavy industry, though even the sturdiest of plants couldn't fill what passed for a lawn. This left it patchy. To the left of the house was a gravel lot protected only by a chain link fence. The wire that would have lined the top to keep out intruders had long ago been stripped away. Nothing had changed. From her jaunt through the astral, Shaman confirmed what Octo said earlier. There were only seven people inside: One on top in the room with the gear and six on the bottom in a room with bunk beds. Shaman would go upstairs with her spirit while Gentoo and Pretty Pink would draw them into the living room where they could be flash-banged. Octo was matrix overwatch, though there wasn’t a ton she could do now other than watch and inform. Though her Octo's life wasn't on the line, the hacker had put in all of the legwork that work had made this moment possible. The light on the van was off, the shadowrunners departed the van, strode quickly through through the lawn and stacked up on the door. Ancient wood creaked under their booted feet. Gentoo counted down with his fingers. “Pretty Pink, kick with me on one,” he whispered, “Three, two…” Gentoo and Pretty Pink cocked back their feet and together they slammed their boots into the door. The word one was punctuated by the ancient wooden door getting kicked off rusty hinges. Gentoo was through first followed by Pretty Pink and Shaman pulled up the rear. The latter of the three broke left as planned and went directly up the narrow stairs to the second floor. The insides were in desperate need of a paint job, though besides that the room was oddly clean, revealing ancient tiles and cracked but clean wooden paneling. Fascist posters both real and in augmented reality covered the walls. “Hello boys!” challenged Gentoo, as he swept into a living room filled with couches, "Let's see what you fuckers are made of!" He was the lure to bring them into a central room where they could be flash-banged as a group. The hallways were just too narrow to move two by two in their gear, so he needed to physically enter the next room. Shouts and curses emanated from deeper inside of the house as Pretty Pink waited with her flashbang out while Gentoo found cover near an ancient couch. Pretty Pink’s heart was in her throat and her breath heated her ballistic mask. She was just a step behind Gentoo and he was already in the room by the time she'd posted up in the hallway. Screaming came from upstairs as did gunshots, which turned Gentoo’s attention away for just long enough that he only ducked before the gunfire of a light pistol barked through the room. “gently caress you keebs!” screamed a young man with a head shaved bald, a dark coat, white shirt and blue jeans, “Or loving trogs or whatever the gently caress! You’re fuckin’ dead!” His expletives were punctuated by gunfire. Gentoo tried to back out of the room as more came, but a bullet smacked near where his head had been a moment ago and he retreated back to the couch. As the couch took even more gunfire, two more men rushed in: An older man in his boxers shorts with long, stringy grey hair and a young, shirtless man with a knife. Another young man, as bald as the one with the gun, hung back with a long knife in hand. He didn't seem eager to charge in and the ganger with the gun was too busy swearing and shooting. Gentoo still wasn’t moving. Pretty Pink wanted to scream at him to go, but the gangers with melee weapons closed the distance with him too fast and rendered the point moot. She took a precious second to put her flashbang grenade back in her grenade pouch lest she accidentally drop it and have it go off at her feet. That would be her kind of luck to have that happen. When it was stowed, she hoisted her heavy gun, snuggled it into her shoulder, acquired her target down the iron sights of the ancient Kalashnikov and fired. The gun roared and the wooden butt of the gun kicked as solidly as any boot, but three times in rapid succession as she aimed a burst at the ganger with a gun. Even with the armor on she knew there would be bruises in the morning. She was unprepared for how fast the barrel of the gun would climb and the stick and shock ammo impacted primarily to the left of his head and into the wall. She lowered her sights as he looked towards her, lifted his gun and before he could fire, two of her next three shots hit him in his center mass. He began to convulse as electricity coursed through his body, but either he was on drugs or made of sturdier stuff, because he didn’t drop his gun or go down. Meanwhile, the older ganger with the bat screamed and tried to take off Gentoo’s head with a swing while the younger one with the knife tried to stab him. Gentoo contorted out of the way of each one, far more nimble and graceful than either the gangers or Pretty Pink could have guessed. “Fuckin die!” roared the ganger with the bat. After several wild swings it smashed into the couch, but was briefly stuck between two cushions. Gentoo took the opportunity placed his bare hand on top of the metal bat and the man shrieked as Gentoo’s bioware modded hand shocked the man through his bat. Then with a quick step he drove his boot into the man’s guts. The force of the kick sent the ganger violently forward. The drywall caved in and the man lay limp halfway in and halfway out of one room and into another. Using his forward momentum, Gentoo turned his kick into a step, pivoted, raised his pistol and shot the knife wielding ganger twice in his chest as he slashed as where Gentoo would have been if he hadn't moved forward. The knife dropped and he fell at his feet. Meanwhile, Pretty Pink’s perception of time had slowed to a crawl. She stared down the shaking barrel of a gun as electricity continued to discharge into the ganger. In that moment, she saw the second ganger turn to flee, but he was too slow. In that slowed time she took her shots. Her gun roared to life again as it kicked her hard in the shoulder. She caught the ganger with the gun in the neck. The ganger consulted so violently that he coughed up blood before passing out only to convulse while unconscious. With a small adjustment, she shot the final ganger in the room in the back before he could flee. He fell immediately and it was on top of the knife that he was carrying, his body jerking and with a pool of blood growing underneath him. Pretty Pink wondered if she’d just killed not just one, but two people, her thoughts oddly detached from what she'd just done. Two seconds, two dropped bodies. That's all it took. Her ears hurt despite the plugs, her teeth felt like they were vibrating, her shoulder ached and her mouth was completely dry. “Clear!” shouted Gentoo. Gentoo's familiar language brought her back to the world. “loving clear!” rasped Pretty Pink. “Woo! Chokepoints cut both ways!” he exclaimed, breathlessly, from behind his black ballistic mask, “All right, Octo, we’re missing two. Where are they?” Pretty Pink recharged her magazine while Gentoo nodded to a voice she couldn't hear. He kept his gaze down the hall from where they’d came. “One ran down the street and one is still here,” said Gentoo, more quietly now, though that meant he was no longer shouting, “On me. Let’s go.” Together they assaulted the room with the bunk beds, but neither needed to bother. The final ganger on the first floor was cowering under one of the beds. The caramel skinned young man held his pudgy hands up as high as they could go, which wasn’t far as his fingers hit the underside of the bed. “D-Don’t shoot, please,” begged the man. Gentoo coldly and carefully aimed his weapon at the man. “Bang!” shouted Gentoo. The man squealed in terror, but Gentoo only shook his head. “You good here, Pink?” asked Gentoo, casually. “Yeah,” she said, her tone cold, Kalashnikov raised. “I’m going upstairs. Shaman cleared the second floor. She and I will get the gear. You deal with him,” he said. Without another word he promptly left. The ganger who’d been too cowardly to fight or even run away began to beg, to plead and to promise, but his words came to her ears if from far away. She could hear him, but he wasn't listening. Time was still slow so she weighed her options in seconds – His life in seconds. The stick and shock ammo was less than lethal, but she could empty the whole magazine into him and watch him convulse and die. This was a gang that murdered people as a way of becoming a full member. People like her sister. He was here to torment and murder people. However, she remembered Kenji’s instructions. No killing. She might have broken that rule twice already, but that was in the heat of the moment. If she'd killed this man now, it would be cold and calculated. For a moment she’d seriously considered going off mission and executing a coward. She felt disgusted with herself. She was a soldier in Tir Tairngire’s Peace Force and soldiers followed orders. Sure, Kenji wasn't in her chain of command, but she's accepted the mission of her own free will. If she wasn’t a soldier, all she would be was the girl who’d run away from home the moment her sister was safely away from her parents. Kenji hadn’t saved her like she were some helpless princess. He'd given her a weapon, a mission and an enemy to defeat. She’d decided to let him go when she caught him setting up the very shadowrun she was on, but only because she no longer cared about anyone save for her sister, and that had included herself. Her commanding officer had betrayed her for her parents' money when she would have done anything to belong. After a year and a half in the military she'd begun to hope again and believe that her life was going to turn out all right. Hope had been a sweet lie and it was only her own regard for her sister, her gratitude for Kenji helping her and her own disregard for her own being that protected Kenji. He’d protected Krupa and Saanvi had protected him, but what she thought of as repaying a favor had come with unexpected kindness mixed with purpose. He’d known what she’d needed. She didn’t need to be saved, but to save herself and to be strong on her own. She realized all of this in an instant in the clarity that came after combat as she pointed her weapon at a coward. Her mind continued to race as she decided his fate. Kenji had given her purpose and for the first time in months the world made sense. She could not find the words to silently berate herself. That feeling of self-loathing was gone. Undoubtedly it would return, but its temporary absence was remarkable. She would not betray him or the mission, no matter how much she wanted to kill this coward. “Two of your number might be dead,” she said, from behind her pink mask, “Do you have a medkit?” It took a moment for him to realize that he wasn’t executing him. “What?” asked the pudgy ganger. “Medkit,” she said, dangerously, “Do you have one?” “Y-Yeah,” he rasped, “Think so.” “Good. Wait until we leave and see that they don’t die if they’re not already dead,” said Pretty Pink, coldly, “Do you understand?” “I…” he began. “Or don’t,” she said, her voice detached, “Killing you isn’t part of the mission. I don’t know who you are, but I can find out in seconds because I know who to ask. If you approach any group like this in the future, no matter how small or mild in its ideology, I will find you. I will still be young when you are old. This is a lifetime ban. If you violate that ban I will find you. Then you will be as a stone dropped in water. You will simply disappear. Do you understand?” The air suddenly filled with the acrid smell of piss. Pretty Pink took it as assent. “Good. I'm glad we understand each other.” Kenji and Saanvi – Saturday, August 3rd, 2075 – Late morning – Downtown Seattle Kenji whistled low as Saanvi finished her story. "Or you will simply disappear?" asked Kenji, "That is some cold poo poo." "Yeah," whispered Saanvi, "I thought I'd just killed two people and was in real combat for the first time in my life. I felt cold all over. I didn't know how I'd feel, but I felt cold." Kenji was quiet for a time before he slowly nodded. There was nothing like combat and she had no to talk to about it. He didn't want to do it here, but he decided to trust her with something. "I know how that goes," he whispered. Saanvi stared at him intensely and Kenji stared back. They were so close that their noses almost touched. "Yeah?" she asked. "Yeah," he agreed. There was a pause for the space of a heartbeat. Then he was kissing her. Her lips tasted of tangy orange juice, but she was the first to open her mouth and so he tasted so much more. Kenji's own mouth opened soon after. She grabbed a fistful of his curly hair and was not gentle about it while he pulled her closer. His entire body felt charged with electricity and he felt a hunger that had nothing to do with food. The kiss didn't last long, but time slowed for the two. When they parted, Kenji's lips and tongue tingled from. They were both breathless from that kiss. She hadn't expected it, but welcomed it eagerly. He hadn't expected it either even though he'd started it. So they'd both run out of breath fast. The kiss had been a spontaneous expression of need and desire. When he stared into her dark eyes, her pupils were fully dilated. When she stared into his, she saw one brown eye and one blue. -- I roll etiquette. Kenji gets 6 hits and Saanvi gets 3. During the kiss, she opens her mouth first. Ice Phisherman fucked around with this message at 17:01 on Oct 23, 2018 |
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Oct 23, 2018 04:42
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Part one of three. Other parts will be released as we get different perspectives. Min Yun scouts the place before entering via the astral. It’s not difficult. She gets a sense of the floor plan almost immediately. Narrow hallways with lots of choke points, a front room, a small dining room that’s absolutely packed with tables for communal eating, there’s a multi-purpose room for watching movies and a number of bedrooms that are stacked with bunk beds and a single bathroom. The back yard is fenced in and serves as a make shift parking lot. It’s all gravel. Upstairs is an actual half bath and a few more bedrooms, one specifically where the gear is. Also there’s an attic, but there’s nothing of worth up there. However, Min Yun also realizes that the astral here is just filthy with hate. It serves as a background count of 2, which drains 2 dice for anything magical that she does. She’s become more practiced since last year, but she’ll be at 8 dice instead of 10 for most actions and 10 dice for detection spells. Gentoo and Min Yun are rocking their own gear, but Saanvi has some rentals supplied by Min Yun. So she’s in an armor jacket and has a ballistic mask. It’s pretty good for an assault. Not great, but pretty good. I also roll loyalty for Min Yun and Gentoo to see if they stick to being non-lethal. Min Yun gets 2 hits and Gentoo gets 0. If pressed, Gentoo will go lethal if injured. Min Yun summons a water spirit, which is a specialty of hers. After all, she puts them in bottles of alcohol and they almost universally love to ferment. It’s like a vacation for water spirits (fofofo). That’s her side hustle. So she gets 10 dice because she summons it before getting here. It’s a force 4 spirit. She gets 4 hits and it gets 5. That’s not good as that’s a possibly 10 stun which will knock her out. She gets 2 hits. Spirits come at sunrise and sunset, so I’ll say that she has one more chance and has had time to recover. This time she tries for a force 3 water spirit. She gets 2 hits and it gets 1, so she gets a single service from it. With her luck, she doesn’t want to do any more summoning tonight. She tells it to guard her and I roll intuition 3 + logic 3 to see if it understands her. 2 hits. She’s golden. It will defend her. The plan is simple and they’re going to rely 100% on speed and shock. They’re to be inside for no less than three minutes. Police response time barely exists because this place sucks. Gentoo is on point, Pretty Pink (Saanvi) is in the middle and Min Yun brings up the rear. Octo runs matrix overwatch. Gentoo and Pretty Pink subdue the boys (the name for uninitiated gang members) on the bottom floor while Min Yun, Octo and Min Yun’s spirit secure the upstairs. They’re all using non-lethal stick and shock rounds. This is a small problem as they’re not going to penetrate through anything resembling cover, though everyone has lethal rounds in if necessary. Gentoo and Min Yun use heavy pistols while Pretty Pink has an AK-98. Pretty Pink gets flashbangs as part of a plan. The timer starts. Three minutes. Gentoo is not at all about going in quiet. He and Pretty Pink want shock and awe. Saanvi attempts to kick down the door with Gentoo aiding. Saanvi has agility 6 + unarmed 2 with a strength of 4. Gentoo has agility 7 + unarmed 6 and a strength of 5. This is a normal door with 2 structure and 4 armor. Saanvi rolls and adds 1 hit and strength to Gentoo’s roll is 5 and he has striking callouses bioware which give him a +2 to damage. So he does 13 damage to the door. The door rolls 6 dice. If it gets 2 or less hits it goes down. It gets 1 hit. It gets kicked right off its ancient hinges. Three minute time limit go. Min Yun runs upstairs with her spirit and Octo is mainly focused on her since she’s alone. However, for the moment we focus on Gentoo and Pretty Pink. I roll composure for absolutely everyone here with 3 being needed or they suffer negatives to dice pools. Gentoo – He gets 1. He’s jittery and angry. -2 to all dice pools. Min Yun – 4 hits. Cool as a cucumber. She gets a +1. Pretty Pink – 2 hits. She’s only done this before in training. -1 to all dice pools. Octo – 6 hits. She’s on it. I give her a +1 if she needs to perform any actions. Gang member – 1 hit. He’s at -2 to all actions. The boys – 1, 2, 0, 0, 3 and 3. I’ll say that two of the six are too cowardly to fight and only two will keep fighting if someone is injured without rolling a composure test. I roll edge to see if any of the boys are armed. 1 of them is armed with a pistol. The rest is random melee. Initiative time! Gentoo gets a 12 and Saanvi gets a 9. The boys get. 4, 8 4 and 9. First initiative pass. Gentoo heads to the boys’ last known location, the bunkbed ground floor bedroom and finds cover. Initiative pass over. Second initiative pass. One of the “boys” with an unexpected gun comes out and sees Gentoo. He fires, but Gentoo has cover from a couch which I’ll count as +4 to dodge and +2 to armor if he gets hit. Gentoo has 13 -2 for being jumpy, dice to dodge while under cover. He gets 3 hits. The shot goes wide, but he’s startled by the gun. Pretty Pink’s turn. She runs into the hallway and finds cover. If she can make a 4 on a running test I’ll give her a snapshot. Nope. 3. She’s in cover though. Not enough people have entered the room. Gentoo waits to draw them in while maintaining cover. Gunfire will drive away melee attackers and he doesn't want that. Unaware that the shadowrunners have guns, the guys with melee weapons enter the room. One has a bat and he’s all about bashing some elves. The other two look like they have knives and are not. Initiative pass over. Reroll initiative. Gentoo gets 9 and Saanvi gets 9. Not great. Gentoo really needs to buy those synaptic boosters, meaning I should get him to buy them.  The boys get 10, 8, 6 and 6. The guy with the gun goes first. Again he fires twice at Gentoo. Gentoo decides to drop his initiative to gain +7 to defense as he has agile defender quality, so he’s at 16 dice -2 for nerves for 14. Gentoo dodges each shot easily with a 1 v 7 and a 1 v 4. He dodged so well I’ll give him a composure test again. Nope. Same as before. Saanvi’s turn. She lets out a three round burst with her AK-97 at two targets. Due to her strength she has no recoil to her dice pool, but they’re at -3 to their defense pools. She rolls 12 dice twice and the boys only get 3 dice to dodge. The gun does 10 damage and has a -2 to AP, but she’s using stick and shock rounds, so it only does 8 damage and has a -7 to AP. It also subtracts 5 from the initiative of anyone who gets hit. She rolls 3, but the Boy with the gun gets 3 as well in a lucky dodge. She fires at him again. 3 v 2. She does a potential of 9 stun damage. None of these guys are wearing armor so he uses I’ll say 4 body as the sturdiest of the boys. He gets 1 hit and takes 8 damage. Not enough to put him down, but he’s going to be at -5 initiative next round since he’s already used his this turn. So that was really loud. Someone is firing an AK in a confined space. You feel that in your body and it scares the poo poo out of people. The boys make a composure test. Gun boy is still in the fight with 2, so is bat boy, so is knife boy, but the other knife boy is still hanging back in cover. He hasn’t run yet, but he’s not entering combat either. The guy with the bat and the guy with the knife charge Gentoo and roll melee of 7 and 6 versus Gentoo’s 9. The guy with the bat whiffs and the guy with the knife barely whiffs, with a 1 v 3 and a 3 v 4. Gentoo is in melee. The other knife guy is not going. It’s Gentoo’s turn now and he’s pissed. He’s too close to fire his pistol so he uses his bioware. He has a tiny stinger on one finger, claws, a shock hand and striking callouses. Overbuilt, but he’s got something for everyone and every situation. He rolls 2 on composure, so I flip a coin to see which he uses instead of him going non-lethal. Tails. He goes non-lethal with his shock hand. He does a touch attack with 16 – 2 to hit from composure loss + 2 for touch attack -1 for weapon reach (the bat). Gentoo is a close combat specialist with his bioware. He rolls 9 hits on 15 dice, but has a limit of 6 which is a shame. Still, no hits for batboy. He’s looking at 9 + 6 stun damage. Batmook rolls 3 dice and gets 1 hit. He goes down with 9 stun and 3 lethal damage as the surge of electricity flows through the metal bat, uses it as a conductor and stuns him. Then he kicks him against the thin wall that he ends up half in and half out of the next room. That was really scary! Gentoo moved like someone who knows what they’re doing! Composure tests all around for the boys at -2! Gunboy lingers (even though he's hosed up), knifeboy stays to fight, but he’s at -2 now and the boy with the knife that lingered before tries to escape. Recycle round. Gentoo gets 11, Pretty pink gets 10, Gunboy gets 7, knifeboy 1 gets 5, knifeboy 2 gets 7. Gentoo goes first in his own initiative pass. Not wanting to get cut up, he steps back with a simple action and fires two rounds into the boy with the knife for a +1 to hit. 6 hits v 2. He has a heavy pistol that does 9 damage, but it’s 7 with the stick and shock rounds. With a roll of 2 on body the knifeboy still goes down as his stun takes 9 of 9 damage. He goes down convulsing. End of first initiative pass. Second initiative pass. Pretty Punk fires 2 more 3 round bursts. One at gunboy and one at the fleeing knifeboy with 11 dice each and 7 stun damage to hit. Saanvi gets 3 hits to make it 10. Gunboy critically glitches a dodge test. The damage becomes lethal, but he gets 2 hits. He barely survives with 8 out of 9 lethal damage. He got hit in the neck. Again she fires and she gets 2 hits, but that’s not enough. I use one of her 4 edge to reroll failures. She gets 6 hits. He gets 2 to dodge. I roll his dodge and he glitches, but it’s not a crit glitch. He’ll take double stun damage, so 26 stun. He has 9 stun and that gets eaten up. He has 15 stun left. Half of that rounded down gets converted to lethal. 7 of 9 lethal damage. He trips and falls on his knife while convulsing is what I'll call that. Pretty Pink has nearly killed two people! Stick and shock puts the “less than” in “less than lethal” rounds. Combat over. Pretty Pink calls clear. Gentoo calls clear. Four down. Together they go into the bedroom, but they guy is cowering and of little threat. He’s just not cut out for this. They check with Octo. The last one after the shooting started. Pretty Pink is left to keep the downstairs secure with the unconscious bodies while Gentoo goes upstairs. Finally, Pretty Pink gets to decide what to do with the final ganger. He’s cowering under the bed. She’s still in slowtime and humming from a combat high. She’s deep into introspection and deciding if she wants to execute him or not. I roll her composure. 5 hits on 9 dice. Saanvi considers herself a soldier. She is on mission. The “mission” is not to kill people, but that can happen in the heat of the moment. Her identity is wrapped up in being a soldier. She decided to stick with her identity instead of go off “mission” and murder him. I roll a d6. There is a rating 4 medkit here that is used to patch people up without going to a hospital. I roll for everyone here in secret.
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Oct 23, 2018 04:59
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I am reminded that stick and shock ammo is not pronged like a taser dart, but has a kind of conductive gel. Saanvi still shocks him in the neck, but he coughs up blood instead as he is hit with multiple stick and shock rounds. In my head I imagined the prong burying deep into his neck or doing a through and through, but it's hard to do that with what are basically electric nerf darts propelled by gunpowder.
Ice Phisherman fucked around with this message at 05:13 on Oct 23, 2018 |
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Oct 23, 2018 05:02
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Mr Apollo posted:Pointing out the subtle manipulation that occurs in something as mundane as a supermarket totally fits the story and Kenji would be someone who could pick up on stuff like that. However, Volmarias is correct that it is currently a bit clunky and heavy-handed. This is the first draft however and that's something that can be addressed and smoothed over when you are editing the story. It's not worth worrying about at the moment. Yeah, based on the first comment I initially thought the issue Volmarias had was the topic at hand, not that the topic itself was worded in a clunky manner. Whoopsies
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Oct 23, 2018 05:29
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Ice Phisherman posted:“Or don’t,” she said, her voice detached, “Killing you isn’t part of the mission. I don’t know who you are, but I can find out in seconds because I know who to ask. If you approach any group like this in the future, no matter how small or mild in its ideology, I will find you. I will still be young when you are old. This is a lifetime ban. If you violate that ban I will find you. Then you will be as a stone dropped in water. You will simply disappear. Do you understand?” And thus goes the origin story of 'Pretty Pink'. Ice Phisherman posted:There was a pause for the space of a heartbeat. Then he was kissing her. Her lips tasted of tangy orange juice, but she was the first to open her mouth and so he tasted so much more. Kenji's own mouth opened soon after. She grabbed a fistful of his curly hair and was not gentle about it while he pulled her closer. His entire body felt charged with electricity and he felt a hunger that had nothing to do with food. The kiss didn't last long, but time slowed for the two. When they parted, Kenji's lips and tongue tingled from. They were both breathless from that kiss. She hadn't expected it, but welcomed it eagerly. He hadn't expected it either even though he'd started it. So they'd both run out of breath fast. The kiss had been a spontaneous expression of need and desire. In the back of his armored limousine, Joyce clicked-off the console mounted trideo screen and sank deeper into the real-leather recliner seat. He held Krupa closer to him, and in equal measure stroked her hair and patted her head as she nuzzled deeper at his neck and shoulders, half dozing. Breathing in her scent and perfume, he smiled slightly and offered a contented sigh, "See? I told you it'd work." Krupa muttered something unintelligible and fell deeper asleep, knowing that everything was again right in the world.
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Oct 23, 2018 07:28
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CourValant posted:In the back of his armored limousine, Joyce clicked-off the console mounted trideo screen and sank deeper into the real-leather recliner seat. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lt4329_W_s0
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Oct 23, 2018 08:02
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Yup, Im in love. Kenji if you gently caress this up I will gently caress you up. I don't care if you're a literary creation I will find a way! Also <insert doggy style joke here>
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Oct 23, 2018 12:09
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Once again the benefits of an Etiquette build are apparent for all to see! 
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Oct 23, 2018 13:13
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...Eh, Kenji? You remember the Pink still need to get the clear from the rest of your pack? And that she does need to know about Edward before commiting to anything serious (if waking up next to a woman won't cause Edward to get back, nothing will)? You are going too fast. Slow down. (Also, on a less serious note -you enjoy playing hard to get, she looks to enjoy chasing you, and we like reading about it. Can't you keep it going for a little longer?) (Also - good to see that the crew made it back in one piece ; and if she's truthful, she's not taking killing badly, nor being too eager and bloodthirsty) CourValant posted:In the back of his armored limousine, Joyce clicked-off the console mounted trideo screen and sank deeper into the real-leather recliner seat. There's still a fly in his soup - he's not poaching Kenji using Saavni ; We are getting her to join us in the
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Oct 23, 2018 17:08
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Going too fast is the hallmark of teenage romance. Kenji can only think with one head at a time, and guess which one is getting more blood
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Oct 23, 2018 17:15
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quote:(Also, on a less serious note -you enjoy playing hard to get, she looks to enjoy chasing you, and we like reading about it. Can't you keep it going for a little longer?) Kenji isn't really playing hard to get as trying to make sure his pack approves before he potentially accepts Saanvi as a new member of his pack. He's being cautious. Or at least he was trying to be cautious. Eventually he's going to remember himself. This was spontaneous. Gun Jam posted:...Eh, Kenji? You remember the Pink still need to get the clear from the rest of your pack? And that she does need to know about Edward before commiting to anything serious (if waking up next to a woman won't cause Edward to get back, nothing will)? You are going too fast. Slow down. Deadmeat5150 posted:Going too fast is the hallmark of teenage romance. Kenji can only think with one head at a time, and guess which one is getting more blood This is the correct answer. Kenji didn't make a rational decision. He made an impulsive decision like teenagers sometimes do. Sometimes you just kiss someone and you're thinking 100% with your hormones and 0% with your brains. Kissing Saanvi didn't make sense with how he wanted to rationally play this, but rationality was taking a back seat as he found an emotional connection with her. Kissing Saanvi made sense on an animal/emotional level. If anything it just complicates what he wants to do, because the only members of his pack who have met Saanvi so far are Julie (who gave consent and started him on this mess) and Min Yun, who went on a shadowrun with her. Ice Phisherman fucked around with this message at 17:58 on Oct 23, 2018 |
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Oct 23, 2018 17:56
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I really like Gentoo saying "Ken-kun". I don't know which I love more: He's being sarcastic and a jackass or is weirdly sincere. Gentoo is great. Everyone is great
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Oct 23, 2018 18:21
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I really like how one horomone/adrenaline kiss with an attractive partner is going too fast. It was one quick kiss, now if he goes back to her place and goes further that's moving to fast but completely understandable.
Toughy fucked around with this message at 18:53 on Oct 23, 2018 |
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Oct 23, 2018 18:36
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Gun Jam posted:There's still a fly in his soup - he's not poaching Kenji using Saavni ; We are getting her to join us in the Patience; the fall into Damnation is rarely one, large, giant leap. Getting Kenny emotionally attached to Saanvi is step zero. As long as he cares about what’s best for Saanvi, then Joyce gets to play his ‘manipulation magic’. “Come now, Kenji, what do you really think is best for your newly beloved? A life of running the shadows, of not being able to have any contact with her sister, of looking over her shoulders for when her parents finally decides to end such foolishness? Or, a life of respect, love, and family? A pack of your own people, to finally call yours? With the resources and lifespan to back up such promises?” “As for the corrupting and corrosive influences of the Tir? Well, you’re a smart man Kenji, come and help make it different. Come and protect your newly beloved, shield her from the excesses of society and her family. Dog has granted you a boon for your loyalty and your service, come and see that it is used for the good of those you care about.” “We are long-lived, Kenji; Saanvi has said so herself. How shall you decide that she live out her years” Toughy posted:I really like how one horomone/adrenaline kiss with an attractive partner is going too fast. It was one quick kiss, now if he goes back to her place and goes further that's moving to fast but completely understandable. How could it not go far at this point? It’s raining, they just had an emotional walk and talk, Dog is in the driver’s seat again and Saanvi doesn’t know how to do the ‘question your motive’ exercise, and she’s coming off reliving her combat high. What else are they going to do when they get upstairs??
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Oct 23, 2018 19:43
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So caught up in emotion he's showing it with the shamanistic shroud. Yeah, not rational, but I'm on board.
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Oct 23, 2018 19:47
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They still have breakfast to get through. So it’s not like we can back away just yet.
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Oct 23, 2018 19:51
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